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1005 



ORDER OF THE PUBLICATION BOARD OF THE EVAN- 
GELICAL LUTHERAN JOINT SYNOD OF 
OHIO AND OTHER STATES 



Dedication 



To 

My Wife Mary, 

WHO HAS SHARED MY JOTS AKD SORROWS FWL 
MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY, AND 

To 

My Children, Luther, Mary, 
Henry, Ada and Carl, 

IK THE HOPE THAT THEY, WHOSE LIYES H 

BEEN SO INTIMATELY ASSOCIATED WITH 

MINE, WILL LOVWG 

INTEREST IN THE STORY OF 

MY HUMBLE LIFE, AKD 

TO 

The Memory of 

MY DEPARTED SON AND DAUGHTER, MATTHIAS 

AND ALICE, WHO ARE NOT DEAD, BUT 

SLEEPING IN GREEN LA WW, 

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 



&torp of 2®v Safe 



PREFACE. 

<*% 

YIELDING with reluctance to frequent solicitations, 
I have endeavored to write the story of my life, 
which is herewith offered to the public. 

My refusal hitherto to undertake such a work was 
based on the conviction that my life was not of suf- 
ficient importance to merit or even justify the under- 
taking, which, except to the friends whose love mag- 
nifies my work, might seem an effort to lift into emi- 
nence a life of service, whose fidelity and devotion is 
not greater than that of many brethren with whom it 
was my pleasure to labor together. I was well aware, 
moreover, that autobiographies, even when the subject 
is worthy of the distinction thus accorded, are diffi- 
cult to write with profit to the reader. More than 
ordinary grace is requisite to be perfectly impartial 
where self is concerned. When men are urged to write 
their own biography with a view of getting a complete 
insight into the secret workings of their souls and the 
hidden motives of their actions, the result is usually 
disappointing. Even a thoroughly honest man, though 
he will conscientiously misrepresent nothing, will, if 



Preface 

he is a man of good judgment, prefer not unnecessarily 
to incriminate himself before the public, where no 
opportunity would be afforded for a fair trial, and 
where there is little prospect of eliciting the interest 
to make it fair. It, therefore, always seemed to me 
both right and wise to resist the appeals made to me 
to write the story of my life. 

Now when there are manifold indications of 
Providence that my life's work is done, I yield to the 
solicitations of my friends and offer this book to the 
public. Some would account for this by assuming 
that my faculties are failing. As respects my memory 
they are right, and as memory is the faculty upon 
which all reminiscences must depend, it would seem 
that now especially I should refrain from telling my 
story. As against this I can truthfully say that some 
things are as clear and distinct in my memory as they 
can be in the human mind, and that in the goodness 
of God still sufficient judgment is left me, in my dis- 
eased and suffering condition, to know what is distinct 
in my remembrance and what is hazy and unreliable, 
and therefore to refrain from saying what I am not 
sure of being the truth, or to say it with such modifica- 
tions as will guard against misleading the reader. On 
the other hand, I recognize that some things in the 



Preface 

history of the Church in the Ohio Synod in which I 
was concerned, may be told with advantage to many, 
not because of myself, who was concerned in them, 
but of the events in which I was concerned. 

Columbus, Ohio, March 17, 1905. 




CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 
Childhood 7 

CHAPTER II. 
Printer 38 

CHAPTER III. 
Student 64 

CHAPTER IV. 
Pastor 94 

CHAPTER V. 
Synod 192 

CHAPTER VI. 
Home 235 

CHAPTER VII. 
Editor 281 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Professor 320 

CHAPTER IX. 
Author 391 

CHAPTER X. 

Emeritus 407 

5 



CHAPTER I. 



CHILDHOOD. 



MY father was an immigrant from Germany, who 
came to America in 1817. He was poor, and 
by an unhappy arrangement which was made in 
those days for poor emigrants, he was sold into ser- 
vitude, and suffered much before his passage was 
paid and he was released to seek his fortune as best 
he could in a strange land. As he had learned the 
trade of cabinet maker, he soon found work in Har- 
risburg, Pa., whither Providence directed his steps. 
There he met and married my mother, Christina 
Reaver, and set up his humble home. Both were 
poor, and their home was lowly in the extreme; but 
from all indications and reports they were contented 
with their meager means. So far as I can remember 
all moved smoothly in their household, and father and 
mother, and children with which God blessed the mar- 
riage, all lived peacefully together. 

But there was an element foreboding no good in 
the marriage. My father was a Roman Catholic from 
Baden; my mother was a Lutheran from Wuerttem- 



&torp ot 9$v Sltfe 



berg. In that which is of the highest import for the 
wedding of soul with soul and for the education of 
children in accordance with the will of Him who 
gives them for His purposes and for His glory, they 
were not united. My father was an honorable man 
and always respected righteousness ; my mother was a 
pious woman who loved the Saviour. They did not 
clash, because my mother, in her comforting apprehen- 
sion of justification by faith alone, loved righteousness 
even more ardently than my father, and therefore 
always agreed with him in his determinations to do 
right at every cost. There was thus a superficial har- 
mony without a fundamental agreement. Nothing un- 
common is thus presented in the life of my parents. 
Every day shows us the same situation, in which there 
is agreement in appearance notwithstanding the disa- 
greement in principles. In my estimation there was 
much lacking for the right education in my father's 
house, not because of a lack of good will, but because 
of unfavorable conditions. My father's Romanism 
was not pronounced and never led to family feuds. 
So far as my knowledge extends he never was a com- 
municant in the Roman Church after his arrival in this 
country, and never even attended its services, although 

he made a profession of the Lutheran faith only a short 

8, 



&toz% Qi 9®V %\U 



time before his death. The religious training in the 
household was left to my mother, without much help 
but with no interference on his part. 

This was for her a heavy task. Seven children 
were born within a period of about fifteen years, means 
were wanting to secure help in the growing cares and 
labors of the household, sickness sapped her strength, 
and her duties were performed with difficulty. Poor 
mother, she did what she could. With the deep Luth- 
eran piety characteristic of her Suabian home across 
the sea, she suffered patiently and labored lovingly to 
keep the wolf from the door and to lead the children 
to the Saviour and through Him to the Father in 
heaven who loves us all and cares for us all. It was 
thus that all the children with one exception were 
brought to Holy Baptism and planted into Christ. The 
one exception was that of an older brother, whom the 
minister requested to administer the sacrament de- 
clined to baptize because he had become an Anabaptist 
and was planning to establish a new Baptist sect. My 
brother was thus left unbaptized until he was old 
enough to be confirmed in the Lutheran Church of 
which he has been a life-long member. Only her first 
child became old enough during my mother's life-time 
to receive the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Body and 



fetors of 9®v %itt 



Blood, and no inconveniences were shunned to accom- 
plish her purpose of having my sister at the age of 
fourteen confirmed as a member of the Evangelical 
Lutheran Church. Under many disadvantages my 
good mother trained her family for Christ and the 
Church and in all respects led the way by her own 
devotion to the Saviour, adorning the doctrine which 
she taught by the life which she led. 

Of the seven children born to my parents I was 
the fourth. Their stay in Harrisburg, where they had 
established their humble home, was not of long dura- 
tion. Rapid strides toward securing a competence 
were not usual in those days, when what is now re- 
garded as necessary for comfortable living was 
esteemed to be wealth. Nor was my father gifted with 
the talents to make the best use of the conditions 
which formed his environment. He was not only 
modest, but exceedingly timid in asserting his rights 
and claiming his just dues, doing much of his work 
on credit and afraid to approach the creditor when the 
time for redeeming promises had come, and thus his 
business did not prosper. It was a daily question of 
daily bread although enough was due for his work to 
secure it. 

How it came about I do not know, but it came 
10 



^tor? ot 9$v Qitt 



about that a few years after the establishment of my 
father's home in Harrisburg he was induced to remove 
to a lonely place on the Blue Mountains, where the 
nearest neighbor was a mile away. Eastward was the 
solitary abode of a recluse, whose name was Casper 
Wick. Southward, at the foot of the mountain, lived 
a family by the name of Navinger, whose tender inter- 
est I often experienced, and whose kindness we all 
appreciated. Westward I remember only a family 
who took little interest in us as new-comers and with 
whom we never had any particular dealings. North- 
ward there seem to have been settlements of some 
importance, for from that source the medical attend- 
ance of our household in its isolated condition came. 
Our family was pretty well secluded from the outside 
world. 

There, on the 17th of March, 1828, I was born. 
It was on the Blue Mountains in the County of Cum- 
berland, Pa. The place is said to be visible from the 
capitol at Harrisburg, and I have often from that 
position viewed the house which was pointed out to me 
as the place of my birth. Since my sixth year I have 
never visited the old home, not because when I became 
older all interest in the home of my childhood was 

lost, but because, though efforts were made to reach it, 

11 



btoiy of 9®v %iit 



it always proved to me practically inaccessible. My 
recollections of the mountain farm are mostly of hard- 
ships endured on the stony fields in summer and among 
the snow drifts in winter. But my childhood was not 
without its enjoyments. There was ample opportunity 
to build play-houses of the stones and branches which 
lay around in profusion, and to exercise our childish 
skill in the manufacture of utensils and ornaments 
out of the clay that was always ready to be had in the 
summer time and to pile the snow into varied shapes 
to gratify our artistic cravings. There was an abund- 
ance of whortleberries and chestnuts to lure the chil- 
dren down the mountain sides, and slips and foot- 
bruises and snake frights enough to furnish excitement. 
Once in a long while there was the novelty and delight 
of a visit to neighbors, especially to the family living 
at the foot of the mountains. This always made for 
us a grand holiday, on the remembrance of which we 
feasted for many a month. Once or twice a year my 
father went to Harrisburg, fourteen miles away by the 
wagon road, although little more than half that dis- 
tance as the crow flies. This, too, was a notable event 
in our lives because of the wonders which he had to 
tell of the town and its busy life, and because of the 

toys which he would bring and the sight of which 

12 



fetorg oi 9£g %itz 



filled us with amazement. As my father had no money 
to squander these gifts were usually inexpensive, but 
to us children they were great and precious beyond 
our little power of language to tell. Once he brought 
a toy that even astonished my mother for its beauty 
and ingenuity, and which had cost the sum of ten 
cents. I remember how I sought a hiding place when 
my father pulled the string and a cock leaped from 
the box. It was amazing. Some will no doubt smile 
at the simple joys of the poor, but it is only an illus- 
tration of the truth which all close observers of life 
have recognized that, so far as money can contribute 
to human happiness at all, large sums are not neces- 
sary. My observations, in a long life that afforded 
ample opportunities for seeing and judging, confirm 
the conviction formed by searching the Scriptures, 
that wealth never brings contentment and is attended 
by sorrows and griefs rather than comfort and enjoy- 
ment. I have often seen that a dime can contribute to 
human happiness what a million never can. 

So far as I can remember, my parents never went 
to church during our residence at the mountain home, 
and I never saw a church until my sixth year, when 
the family moved away from the place of my birth. 
But that does not mean that religion was banished 



18 



fetatp of 9®v %itt 



from our home. It was not ignored, though its cul- 
tivation was not favored by the circumstances. My 
mother taught us children the way of righteousness 
according to the ability which God had given her, and 
showed us the way to heaven according to all the light 
which she possessed. We were all impressed with our 
accountability to our Maker for all our words and 
ways, and prayers were taught us, and the duty of 
saying them daily when we retired for the night was 
carefully enforced. In consequence of such conscien- 
tious concern for our spiritual welfare as Christians 
who by baptism had put on Christ, we were a Cod- 
fearing family. In my recollections of the early days 
in my mountain home some pangs of conscience on 
account of childish wrong-doing present themselves, 
which indicate that my mother had not failed to instil 
into my soul a horror of sin and a desire to escape 
its condemnations. That is not all that should be taught 
children, but the little of revealed truth that was given 
me continued to exert its power in my after life and 
prepared me for the fuller instruction which in the 
good providence of God I then obtained. What I re- 
ceived from my good mother, who had only the ele- 
mentary education of a parochial school among the 
vine-clad hills of Wuerttemberg, protected me against 



14 



fetorp ot Q@v %\it 



the virulent assaults of Deists and Atheists to which I 
was subjected in later times. As I remember these 
things the thought compels expression, that many an 
evil would be averted if mothers would, according to 
the grace that is given them and the ability thus in 
them, impress the truth of the gospel, though much 
might be lacking in its completeness. My mother was 
no theologian, and for her office of motherhood she 
had no need to be ; but she was a Christian woman who 
sincerely regarded the Church as well as the temporal 
welfare of her children. She was not learned, but I 
owe more to her for my Christian character and con- 
scientious devotion to duty than to all the schools 
which I have attended and to all the books which I 
have read since she entered into the rest which remains 
for the people of God. Oh! that Christian mothers 
would more adequately realize the high position and 
gracious opportunity which God has given them in the 
kingdom of grace! It would be a potent protection 
against many a fad about women's rights and a benefi- 
cent factor in securing the performance of women's 
duties. My mother never had the opportunity to array 
herself in gorgeous dress and sparkling jewels and 
appear as a queen in the splendors of society, though 

she was worthy of the highest honors that society can 

U 



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give, but she had the opportunity of training her chil- 
dren in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and 
she embraced it. All honor to her memory; she did 
what she could, and I, after a long experience of the 
world's ways, must testify that she could do much and 
conscientiously did it. At least in my family let her 
memory be honored ! 

In 1834, when I was in my sixth year, our sojourn 
on the mountain ceased. The family's residence there 
of seven or eight years was not unprosperous. Much 
was idyllic in that mountain home, but much was real 
hardship and self-denial. I do not think that my father 
and mother ever fully enjoyed the delights of that 
mountain home, and of course, we children were not 
capable of comparing it with other homes and passing 
a judgment as regards their worth. Nor were we 
children asked in this regard. It was really not a 
question of taste, but of subsistence. My parents de- 
cided that it would be better, now that some little 
pecuniary means had by strict economy been saved, to 
move to another place. There was a village, half way 
between Harrisburg and Carlisle, which attracted my 
father's attention. It was on the line of traffic between 
Philadelphia and Pittsburg. The name of the village 

was Hogestown. Its location indicated that it would 

16 



&totp of 9£g %itt 



be a place of some activity and business. There my 
father determined to locate. He had saved something 
more than a hundred dollars from his labors on the 
mountain, and thought that it would be a good invest- 
ment to buy a little house in Hogestown. He accord- 
ingly bought it. The house was a tumble-down affair, 
though the lot on which it stood was not objectionable. 
The place suited the family and we removed to the new 
home. Though I remember almost nothing of the re- 
moval, I remember almost everything of the place and 
its surroundings. It was a desolate hamlet, but my 
father thought that he could make a living there. The 
stage-coach, which was the means of business commu- 
nication between Philadelphia and Pittsburg and all 
intervening towns and villages, passed through it with 
its passengers, and large six-horse teams hauling mer- 
chandise passed through every day. It was thus on a 
small scale a busy place, although the contribution 
which it furnished to the business was very small. 
There my father, with the little savings that were 
made from the farm on the mountains, purchased a log 
house. It was the first and only homestead that he 
ever owned. 

In the Hogestown home my school education, such 
as it was, began. Schools were then established by 



17 



fetetp ot S$? %itt 



private enterprise and maintained by individual sub- 
scription. Hogestown and vicinity had a sufficient 
population to invite teachers, and every year for several 
months, at least, an opportunity was afforded the chil- 
dren to obtain an elementary education. When there 
was no school in the village, sometimes country dis- 
tricts offered the desired benefit to the town children, 
which some gladly embraced notwithstanding the in- 
conveniences. It was to such a country school, two 
miles away, that I was sent to learn the English alpha- 
bet and form some acquaintance with English words. 
This was attended with a difficulty that placed me at a 
disadvantage. The two miles walk to school in the 
morning, and home again in the evening was not the 
trouble. Though I was but six years old the daily trip 
was an enjoyment. There were other children who 
went there from the village and our journeys were full 
of fun and sometimes presented incidents which ren- 
dered them full of adventure. Many a time we had 
the pleasure which comes of heroic achievement when 
we killed a snake, and especially when we came off 
conquerors over a swarm of bumble-bees, whose honey 
we were determined to have at every cost. Our victory 
was as sweet as the honey which was our immediate 

reward, and the numerous stings inflicted by the in- 

18 



&totg ot 9ps Eife 



sects in the defence of their nests and their hoards 
counted for nothing in our exultation. It was an ex- 
ample of the follies and attending cruelties which we 
later found illustrated in a thousand forms, indicating 
the vanity of human glory and human pleasures. But 
it was not the journey and its incidents that caused 
me trouble. The language spoken at home was Ger- 
man, and all the English I knew was a phrase which 
my father repeated on various occasions, but the mean- 
ing of which was not clear to me. So I had to learn 
not only the letters and how to combine them into syl- 
lables and words, but had the task also of finding out 
what the words meant. As far as I remember the 
mortifications to which I was subjected on this account 
were borne without much detriment to my standing 
among my associates, and as I had some aptitude for 
learning language, the difficulty was soon overcome 
and my progress w T as satisfactory to all concerned. It 
required but a few months to render me equal to my 
schoolmates in the knowledge imparted, and my little 
knowledge of the German gave me a point in excess 
of the demands made on pupils. 

While it seems to me of little profit to detail the 
experiences of my life in those early days, there are 
two observations which I think worthy of mention. 



19 



fetorg of 9pg %xit 



The circumstances appeared to require that not only 

both sexes, but children of widely different ages should 

be together in the same school. Even at the early age 

when I first attended school, I saw and heard things 

which never occurred in the innocence of our home 

life and which I looked upon with astonishment if not 

with horror. Our teacher was not indifferent about the 

morals of his pupils, and much occurred between the 

older boys and girls that he probably would not have 

endured for a moment if he had known it. But he 

did not know it and had little chance of knowing it. 

While children of both sexes may be profitably placed 

in the same school, the co-education of older pupils 

is always a menace to morals. My observation in early 

years has made me an opponent of co-education on this 

ground, while the opposition became fixed in later 

years by a better insight into the ways of God in the 

government of the world and the difference in callings 

assigned to the sexes, and the consequent difference to 

be observed in their education as to matter and manner. 

This remark, too, I deem it best not to suppress, that 

people are very unwise who suppose that children do 

not notice words and actions which pertain to matters 

beyond their years. When their moral instincts are 

affected they may not understand the import of what 

20 



htoty of S$# Eife 



they hear and see, but they will notice it and under- 
stand it later, and not so easily forget it. 

For the first time I received at Hogestown some 
public religious instruction. There was no church 
there of any denomination, but there were Christian 
people there and congregations with churches in the 
vicinity. Mechanicsburg was but three miles distant, 
where several denominations had houses of worship. 
Not quite as far away was a Presbyterian church at 
Silver Spring, and a Lutheran church existed near 
Kingston. To the latter our family occasionally went 
for worship, and there my oldest sister was confirmed 
when she reached the age of fourteen. As it was fully 
three miles to this church I could receive little benefit 
from my instruction that was given there. Neither 
was ministering to the religious wants of the children 
any part of the purpose for which the subscription 
schools to which I had access were established. But 
several active Presbyterians, with the co-operation of 
members of some other churches conducted a Sunday 
School in our village. This, in addition to my mother's 
teaching, supplied some of the most urgent needs of 
my soul. In after years I often felt the lack of a more 
thorough knowledge of Biblical history and especially 

of a better knowledge of the way of salvation, such as 

21 



fetotg of #g ftiit 



is given in Luther's Small Catechism. This little book 
was not among my mother's very limited store of re- 
ligious treasures, or if it was contained among the 
appendices to her old Bible, she never used it to impart 
instruction and I never knew it ; and of course, such 
a book could have no place in our village Sunday 
School. Indeed, little could be expected there for the 
enlightenment of the understanding, and little was 
done. Notwithstanding this I have grateful recollec- 
tions of the school, and profited by what it furnished. 
Encouragement was given to the memorizing of 
Scripture passages and church hymns, and I committed 
many to memory and have retained a goodly number 
to this day. The selection of texts and hymns was 
left to the children and therefore was not always the 
best, and no effort was made to explain or impress 
the meaning. So little did I then understand of these 
things that I once asked my father if I should not add 
to the prayers which mother had taught me, and the 
"I lay me down to sleep," which had been added from 
another source, a stanza or two from Pope's "Univer- 
sal Prayer," of whose heathenism I had not even a 
suspicion. But God is merciful and blesses us above 
all we can ask or think, and I learned some things in 

the Sunday School whose import dawned upon me 

22 



htoty oi 9$g %iit 



when I grew older, and exerted a beneficial influence 
when mother was gone and I needed it most. No 
doubt this influence was largely dependent on the foun- 
dation which she laid in my soul and the constant care 
which she exercised to have me walk in the ways of 
the Lord. My conduct, I am glad to note, was gen- 
erally satisfactory to her and was frequently com- 
mended. One instance that brought this to my knowl- 
edge is inerasably fixed in my memory. She asked 
me one day to do something which was very distaste- 
ful to me. Instead of immediately obeying I used an 
insolent expression which I had learned from my asso- 
ciates. She looked at me with an expression of pain, 
simply saying, "And this from you, who had always 
been my good boy." She then quit her work and sat 
down and wept. Did it break her heart? If she had 
known the grief which I endured on account of it, 
she would surely have forgotten her own in pity for 
mine. After seventy years its remembrance is still a 
pang, while she for nearly that time has had fulness 
of joy in her heavenly home, where our meeting shall 
carry with it no pangs of earth. Evil communications 
were beginning to corrupt the good manners which 
she had instilled, and the wonders of God's grace 

never seem to me greater than when I view my early 

23 



fetotg ot S@g Etfe 



life after our Father in Heaven had taken her to the 
mansions of bliss, and left me without her guidance 
in the perils which beset me. 

The disease which was gradually destroying my 
mother's vitality increased and my father with her 
concurrence concluded to return to Harrisburg, where 
her brother and his family were living and might be a 
comfort to her in her protracted sickness. After 
months of suffering, which was endured with patience 
and in the blessed hope of glory through the Saviour 
of sinners, she departed this life of sorrow to enter 
into the joys of our Lord. Dr. Sprecher, who is still 
living as I write, and who was then pastor of the 
Lutheran church, was called to minister to her, but 
only when it was apparent that she was dying. I was 
sent to call him, and he came without much delay. 
How it was all brought about was never clear to me. 
I was a stranger in the town and merely a child, but 
somehow I found the residence of the Lutheran pastor. 
Our family were strangers in the city, but somehow 
he found the house in which my mother was dying. 
It all seems to me the more inexplicable because I re- 
member that it was with sobs that I tried to make my 
errand known to the lady who answered the knock at 

the door, and the pastor himself did not appear to ask 

24 



fetotg of 9®v %itt 



any questions. At any rate the object of my mission 
was accomplished, and God supplied what was lacking 
in the messenger's words to make his message clear. 
Mother died and was buried in the churchyard belong- 
ing to Zion Lutheran Congregation. Dr. Sprecher 
officiated. The services were comforting, and mother's 
body was laid away to await the resurrection of the 
just, when it should share the blessedness of the puri- 
fied spirit. 

My father was left with four children. We were 
seven ; but an older sister and a younger brother died 
on the mountain and the youngest of the family was 
taken away at Hogestown. His secular affairs were 
not prosperous. The expenses entailed by the sickness 
and death of my mother left him nothing for the sup- 
port of his children. My sister, then almost fifteen, 
was needed at home to keep house ; an older brother, 
about eleven, secured a situation in which he could 
support himself. I was then about nine years old, and 
my father with the three children endeavored to keep 
house. It was housekeeping under many difficulties. 
The income from my father's work was small, and the 
management of receipts and expenditures was not the 
wisest. Poverty pinched us and comforts were few. 

My father paid but little attention to the wants of the 

25 



&tttg of 9$V %Ht 



household, but so far as this was concerned made me 
a kind of partner in his business, in which I was re- 
quired to render such assistance as my strength per- 
mitted, and access was given me to all the proceeds. 
In this way I could, after a fashion, provide for the 
necessaries of life ; but as I had thus in some measure 
the support of the family without the management of 
the business under my care, we did not get along well. 
I could use the money I thought necessary for our live- 
lihood, but sometimes when business bills were due 
there was no money on hand. It was a loose and hap- 
hazard life that could not bring prosperity and make 
us even comfortable. In respect to our religious and 
moral training nothing of any moment was done, or 
could under such circumstances be expected. To rem- 
edy the evil my father married again, as it was in 
every way best that he should. 

Our new mother was a well-disposed woman of a 
good Lutheran family, though herself little interested 
in church work or in matters of religion. As is usual 
in such cases, we children did not take kindly to the 
new mistress of the house. My sister soon left us to 
make her home with her uncle. There then remained 
but two of us under the parental roof, and all of us 

went our way without much collision. In truth, there 

26 



fetotg nt Q$$ Jiitz 



was little occasion for conflict and contention. My 
father went about his business as usual, and we two 
boys went to school, so that my stepmother had little 
to interfere with her management of the house. Nor 
was she at all disposed to tyrannize over us. She was 
reasonable in her demands and not unkind in her 
treatment of us. What was wanting in our household 
was the Word of God, and that means much. Indeed, 
that means everything; for not only the joyful hope 
of heaven depends upon it, but the subduing of the 
selfishness that produces jarring and jangling, and the 
inculcation of love that produces gentleness and pa- 
tience depends upon it as well. 

When my father returned to Harrisburg he estab- 
lished a meat market. Facilities for this were afforded 
by my uncle, who was a butcher and had a well estab- 
lished trade in meat. Father might have prospered 
fairly well in this business if he had not been exces- 
sively timid in making collections. But as I in my 
ninth year became virtually his financial secretary, 
success was hardly possible. So diffident and timor- 
ous was he that when at the time of political troubles 
at Harrisburg, generally called the buckshot war, he 
furnished meat for the state troops to the amount of 
more than two hundred dollars, he could not be per- 



27 



&totv of Q$v %itt 



suaded to go to the bank and get the money when the 
proper papers with check were sent him. How it came 
about that upon my presentation of the paper the 
money was paid to me, a child eleven years old, is still 
a mystery to me. But many similar cases of later 
years have taught me that God has ways which are 
not known to bankers, and that He keeps His prom- 
ises even if He must work miracles still, though the 
time demanding miracles for the establishment of His 
Church and the attestation of His heavenly truth is 
past. 

My life during this period had many hardships. 
It never was one of ease, and when I came to under- 
stand what that means, I never desired that it should 
be. It seems to me now, when I review those early 
days, that my father never knew the limits of endur- 
ance in childhood and youth, and that without the 
least thought of cruelty he expected of a child what 
could be rendered only by a man. I do not think he 
was peculiar in this. On the contrary, I am of the 
opinion that it is rather the common lot. Indeed, I 
am not sure that I was perfectly free from it in the 
early treatment of my own children or that even now 
I adequately distinguish between laziness and inability, 

not only in children but in older people. No doubt 

28 



&tet$ of Q$y JLiit 



many a wrong is done by requiring of a child what 
only a man can do, and of a man with small endow- 
ment, what only a man of larger powers could accom- 
plish. As it seems to me now my father was mistaken 
in his estimate of human capability and endurance in 
childhood and youth, and that in consequence he often 
did me unintentional wrong. I remember no instance 
in which he persisted in wrong doing when the appeal 
was made to his conscience and the matter was set in 
its proper light. But the fact remains the same that 
he sometimes required of me what I could not with 
all my effort accomplish, and sometimes by my efforts 
I did accomplish only with injury to myself. An in- 
stance in illustration may be mentioned. When we 
were in pecuniary straits he required me, at scarcely 
twelve years of age, to haul bricks from the kiln, I 
endured the hardship of catching them and loading 
them in the cart as they were pitched from the higher 
layers in the kiln, though this was far beyond the 
power of any ordinary boy of my age. And as driv- 
ing a cart was not a part of my education at the time, 
it was no wonder that, with a horse incapable of doing 
the work as I was myself, an accident on a steep ap- 
proach to the canal to be crossed to reach the city from 

the brickyard, crippled the horse by a fall down the ern- 

29 



mm ot stpp %iu 



bankment and drove me home and to bed in despair, 
without looking after the animal that had tumbled 
down or reporting the calamity at home. My father 
did not even rebuke me when he found me in bed after 
discovering the calamity which had befallen us. But 
the loss into which the expected profit was converted, 
increased his financial troubles. 

In the straits to which my father was put to make 
ends meet, he resolved upon a venture which I remem- 
ber with little pleasure and much regret. There was 
a German tavern in the southern part of Harrisburg 
which had become vacant and which he concluded to 
rent. To that place he brought his second wife and 
there she. began her government of the house. My 
sister had left us and we two children still attended 
school, while my father still went to market with his 
meat. But among the boarders and roomers there 
were persons who were not suitable associates for 
Christian people and there were sometimes gatherings 
and performances which even then seemed to me of 
questionable propriety. A few of those who made 
their home with us were pronounced and foulmouthed 
infidels, who in their cups sometimes uttered blas- 
phemies shocking even to worldlings of the more 

decent sort. It was a bad school for one who had 

30 



fetotg of ^v 3Ute 



still maintained the reputation of a good boy. But I 
was not an apt pupil. Opportunities were ample for 
learning wickedness in a variety of forms, but I con- 
tracted no bad habits and came out of the fiery trial 
without a blemish upon my good name, if one shameful 
occurrence at a dinner, where wine flowed freely and 
where I was sinned against rather than sinning, is not 
to be set down as an exception. I do not doubt that 
the good principles which my mother had instilled, 
in consequence of which my attitude towards all un- 
godliness induced my companions to call me the 
preacher, here also by the goodness of God protected 
me from the ruin that was imminent. 

The venture at the hotel was not a financial suc- 
cess. Perhaps, too, the kind of life which was inci- 
dent to the business, at least as it was conducted in 
this case, was not entirely congenial to my parents. 
At any rate they decided, after a few years' trial, to 
abandon it. Neither did the meat business provide 
sufficiently for our needs. The result of a family con- 
sultation accordingly was to return to Hogestown, 
where my father still owned the small property which 
he had bought when we left the mountain farm, and 
where there seemed to be a favorable market for meat 



31 



fetotp of SK?p %iiz 



as well as for cabinet ware. To Hogestown therefore 
we returned. 

I was then about twelve years old. My schooling 
was not neglected, and such opportunities as were 
afforded my father readily embraced to further my 
education. But as before, he utilized such gifts and 
powers as I possessed to help in the support of the 
family. This again subjected me to hardships. One 
case may be mentioned as an example. A farmer in 
the neighborhood resolved to build a new house. To 
save money he determined to make the brick on his 
own farm. As I had a little experience in that line it 
was not difficult for my father to secure me a position 
as off-bearer, whose duty it is to carry the bricks and 
lay them in proper position to dry as fast as the 
moulder prepares them. The work is not very hard 
to a man accustomed to it. It was very hard for me. 
The first days subjected me to an ordeal that was ter- 
rible. The pain in my back was such that I would 
pronounce it intolerable if I had not suffered it and 
lived. Of course, my parents could not realize the tor- 
tures which I endured, and I went on with the work, 
and did not die. I have passed through many a trial 
since and continued to live and praise God for His 

great deliverance. Time trains and tames. 

32 



fetotg of S£g %iie 



After a while the work was done without much 
difficulty and with no complaints. But still the wants 
of my father's house were not adequately supplied. 

About this time some ill wind blew to our house a 
German wanderer who had some money but had no 
home. How it came about I do not know, but he be- 
came a partner in my father's business and a boarder 
at our table. I remember very little about him except 
that I was sent to the store nearly every day to get a 
quart of rum, and that his face had a purple hue which 
seemed to me unnatural. How he and my father sep- 
arated and what ever became of him I do not know. 
But his sottish influence in the household was only 
evil continually. 

It is not edifying to trace the history of a family 
in which the Word of God does not reign, and least 
of all to report its transgressions and shortcomings. 
But ours had not consciously renounced the Saviour, 
and God had not forsaken it. My father, though orig- 
inally a Romanist, died according to all accessible tes- 
timony, in the full assurance of faith in the forgiveness 
of sins through the Redeemer's blood; and my step- 
mother in after years, so far as man could see, con- 
fided in the truth which the Lutheran Church teaches, 

and in it found her comfort. 
3 33 



fetotj? of S£g JLite 



The family life at Hogestown at this period is not 
a pleasant recollection and my continuance with it was 
of short duration. One evening during my father's 
absence there were visitors at our house whose conduct 
constrained me to utter a protest. Perhaps I was in 
the wrong, for with a tender conscience there was 
strong passion associated in my soul. My mother 
struck me for what seemed to her an impudent inter- 
ference. It was the only time that she ever inflicted 
corporal punishment upon me. It was the last time 
that she had an opportunity. Upon my father's return 
it was decided that the peace of the family required 
my removal. Measures were at once taken to execute 
the decree. A place was found for me to learn the 
printer's trade in the establishment of Baab & Hum- 
mel, at Harrisburg, and thither I was transferred. 
This was in the autumn of 184 1, in the fourteenth year 
of my age. 

The terms of my apprenticeship were not made 
known to me. Judging from my father's business 
methods, or rather lack of method as hitherto known 
to me, and from subsequent experiences, there were no 
definite terms, but only the understanding that I was 
to be provided with board and clothing while I was 
learning the trade, without any limit of time. Of 



34 



fetotg of 9®v %iiz 



course, I was not consulted except so far as my will- 
ingness to become a printer was concerned. This want 
of a definite contract might under the circumstances 
have wrought much injury to me. But God cared for 
me and all went well, though some difficulties which 
might easily have been avoided had later to be over- 
come. 

My departure from home was not with much sor- 
row or regret. It was not a home of happy experi- 
ences from which I was torn away unwillingly. As 
I remember the parting, it was rather an occurrence in 
the ordinary course of nature, about which no ado 
was to be made. It was thought best that I should 
leave, and I concurred. We therefore parted in peace. 
But we parted! My parents committed the care for 
me to others, and thenceforth, so far as appearances 
indicate, their consciences did not impel them to exer- 
cise any further care. As all went well under the pro- 
vision made, this was not unreasonable. If it had 
gone ill with me, they no doubt, to the extent of their 
limited ability, would have supplied my needs. But 
God rules and it did not go ill with me. They put me 
under the care of strangers, and they were right in as- 
suming that, so long as no reports were made to the 
contrary, these strangers were exercising the proper 



35 



&totg of $®t %itt 



care for my welfare. In their conditions they thought 
that they did what they could. But we parted without 
securing the tie which should have bound us together 
notwithstanding the parting. 

But it was no small thing to me that before I was 
fourteen years old I should be thrown upon my own 
poor resources. Since then I lived among strangers 
and had no home in the proper sense until after many 
years of labor and endurance I established a home of 
my own by my marriage to a wife who has shared my 
fortune until this day. My parents were poor and 
unable to help me, and even when I was sick they 
could not offer me the tender nursing of a home. From 
the time that I was brought to Harrisburg as a print- 
er's apprentice, they never were able to give me a dol- 
lar to support or comfort me, as indeed the conditions 
were never such as to impose on them any such bur- 
den. My parting from the family at Hogestown was 
for this world final. 

I thus entered upon a new career. A new field 
was opened to me, and its cultivation was essentially 
left to my own resources and my own judgment. 
Strangers had taken the place of parents, but they had 
not the feeling of responsibility which attaches to fath- 
ers and mothers, and could not, with all their kindness 

36 



fetorg oC 9®v %\it 



of disposition, feel like these. I came among them not 
as a child to be trained, but as an apprentice to be help- 
ful in business. Yet I fared well. God, who cares 
even for His wayward children, provided for me. 
He has done so until this hour, and will do so until 
the end. Of this His precious Word assures me: 
Blessed be His holy name ! 




37 



CHAPTER II. 

PRINTER. 

OF my occupation in the printing business there is 
comparatively little to be recorded in this nar- 
rative. While I was apprenticed to it and worked 
in it for about six years, from 1841 to 1847, an d ft 
then presents itself as my temporal calling, it was 
really but a part of the education which I was to re- 
ceive to fit me for my life's proper vocation. 

My father's choice of a profession for me was not 
unwise. In many respects I was better fitted for that 
than for any other calling. Though not yet fourteen 
years old, I had learned something. My education was 
desultory, as under these circumstances it could not 
be otherwise. But I always had a good record in all 
my classes at school, and was usually graded above 
my years. That according to my teachers' reports I 
always excelled in mathematics, for which I have never 
in my consciousness discovered any special aptitude 
and certainly no particular taste, may reflect some dis- 
credit upon the judgment of my teachers; but the fact 

that I stood high in the class which studied the intri- 

38 



fetorg of 9£2 JLitt 



cacies of "Mensuration," as sciences now known by 
other names were then called, is evidence that I dis- 
played some talent in a field which I never had the 
inducement further to cultivate. But other acquire- 
ments were of more importance for the career upon 
which I had entered. And these I possessed to the full 
extent of my years, notwithstanding the drawbacks 
to which I was subjected. My sports on land and 
water never to my recollection led to a failure in my 
classes at school, though my regularity in attendance 
was almost entirely dependent on my own will. On 
the whole, I think I was not an unpromising candidate 
for initiation into "the art preservative of all arts." 

The printing house of Baab & Hummel was Ger- 
man. This placed me at a disadvantage in the start, 
but only temporarily. The German was my mother 
tongue, but I had gone far toward forgetting it when 
I entered the printing office. All the schools which I 
had attended were English, and the language spoken 
by the children soon exerted its influence in the home. 
It was not long until we spoke the language of the 
school and of our school companions, even in our con- 
versation with our parents. Their language was Ger- 
man, and for a year or more after our removal to 

Hogestown, my parents spoke German in the family 

39 



fetarp of 9£g %itt 



and the children spoke English. But the German be- 
came gradually less as the parents accustomed them- 
selves to the language spoken by the children. As I 
had never attended a German school and since my 
seventh year had but little occasion to use such knowl- 
edge of my mother tongue as I possessed, I was not 
expert in German when I became an apprentice in a 
German printing establishment. But the proprietors 
did not think this an insuperable difficulty and I was 
not dismayed. I had no reason to be, because the lan- 
guage of intercourse in the whole establishment was 
English, and even the member of the firm who was 
editor of the weekly paper, the publication of which 
was part of its business, was not a master of German. 
I could not read the language, but it required only a 
short time to learn it, and my deficiency in this respect 
never proved an obstacle to my success. 

The work which I had to do, aside from the 
duties of messenger boy, paper carrier, and various 
occupations to which any who are not otherwise en- 
gaged may be appointed for the occasion, was in the 
first week of a tiresome sort. There were in the office 
numerous boxes of "pi." This is a term which print- 
ers use to designate the piles of type which have fallen 

into disorder. My first assignment of work was to 

40 



fetoq? of S$p %itt 



set up this "pi." Of course, the order did not mean 
that I should put these tumbled and jumbled types 
together so as to make sense, but only that they should 
be set up so that each letter could be distinguished 
and put in its proper place for subsequent use. This 
kept me employed for a month or more, and enabled 
me to acquire some knowledge of German letters 
while it saved some money to the proprietors. This 
tiresome work of^ setting up "pi" was accomplished 
with becoming patience, and elicited the commendation 
of my employers, who appreciated my endurance 
though the money value of my work was small. But 
I was not long in learning the business and making 
myself useful. I found favor with my employers, and 
retained it through all the years of my connection with 
them. 

My home during the first half of my apprentice- 
ship was with the senior member of the firm, Mr. 
Baab, a good natured gentleman who gave little atten- 
tion to religion and never went to church, but was 
deeply interested in politics, and once in a while joined 
some of the base sort of the citizens in a protracted 
spree, though ordinarily he was an upright, sober man, 
who enjoyed the respect of the community and kept no 

company with the class of people to whose low level 

41 



fetorg ot 9®y %ite 



he sank in his occasional revels. His wife was a de- 
voted member of the Lutheran Church, who attended 
to her household duties with kindness and bore with 
quiet patience the sorrow occasioned by her husband's 
aberrations. They had one child, well behaved and 
cheerful, but if anything was done to bring her up in 
the nurture and admonition of the Lord it did not be- 
come apparent. 

But what was of more account to me was the pres- 
ence of other persons who were boarding in the family. 
There were three of these, all of them employed in 
the printing house which I had entered. One of them, 
though a man of fair education and a good workman, 
had low tastes and little character, and may be passed 
by with no further mention. But the other two ex- 
erted no little influence upon me, though it was mostly 
indirect. One, J. M. Beck, was a German of fine edu- 
cation, a free-thinker, but a man of moral integrity. 
The other, M. Osman, was a man of less culture and 
of lower moral ideas, but equally ambitious in the pur- 
suit of science and literature. Both were in many 
ways worthy of imitation, and without their instruc- 
tion I learned from their example. As I was not their 
direct pupil, I could not be a direct burden to them, 



43 



&totg of §@# %itt 



even if gradually they took some interest in my pro- 
gress. 

In the first weeks of my sojourn in the house of 
Mr. Baab I spent dreary evenings after the day's work. 
Perhaps if my mother had been living yet I would 
have run away to my humble home or died of home- 
sickness, but the home attractions were no longer so 
great as to draw me with such might, and there was 
nothing for me but to sit in the desolation until relief 
came or my heart would break. I had not forgotten 
my prayers, but I had wandered away so far that God 
did not seem near and help did not appear within my 
reach. No, I was not an infidel, but I was a mere 
child, whose religious education had for five years and 
more been sadly neglected. Beck and Osman sat at 
their books and rarely spoke. I sat with them, and had 
to sit alone in silence that they might not be disturbed. 
Sometimes I went out for a while, but there was no 
acquaintance in the neighborhood with whom I could 
associate or find any enjoyment. So I sat with the 
students who usually pored over their books until after 
midnight, sometimes opening a volume which lay on 
the table before me, sometimes arising and going out 
into the darkness for a while, sometimes recalling the 

past and indulging in dreams, then retiring at 8 or 9 

43 



&totg Dt S^g %tU 



o'clock, when all efforts to drive away the gloom of 
the long evening proved a failure. But this distress- 
ing condition could not be enduring. Casually look- 
ing into the books induced me to read a little here and 
there. Gradually my interest was elicited. It was not 
many months until I heartily joined the two students 
whose example was every night before me. My love 
of learning was awakened and grew to abnormal pro- 
portions, so that in course of time I surpassed my elder 
friends in eagerness and diligence. Fortunately for 
me there was a collection of good books ready to my 
hand. Mr. Osman had a library that was quite respec- 
table both for size and quality, to which I had unre- 
stricted access, and Mr. Beck was always a buyer of 
the best books. Little opportunity was afforded me 
to read trashy publications, as I had no money where- 
with to purchase them, even if I had had the inclina- 
tion. I was thus induced by circumstances to acquaint 
myself with good literature, and wasted but little time 
upon worthless books. Religion was not well repre- 
sented in the library of my friends, who had little inter- 
est in revealed truth, and what there was of this sort 
was mainly skeptical and naturalistic, if not aggres- 
sively "Anti-Christian." I am glad to say that such 

books as Paine's "Age of Reason" had no perceptible 

44 



fetotg of S$g %itt 



influence on my thinking or conduct. They were not 
to my taste. History and travel attracted me most, 
and after the habit of reading beyond the midnight 
hours had been formed, poetry and philosophy became 
favorite subjects. With Shakespeare and Milton I 
formed an early acquaintance, and the best produc- 
tions of the English poets and a few also of the Ger- 
man delighted me. Though I loved to puzzle over 
Locke's Essay and skim over Gibbon's Rome, the reli- 
gious tendencies of such books affected me little, and 
that my inclinations were never adverse to the Chris- 
tian training which my mother had given me was man- 
ifested by my partiality for such poems as Young's 
"Night Thoughts" and Pollock's "Course of Time," 
alongside of "Paradise Lost." Three years of omniv- 
orous reading extended pretty nearly over the whole 
range of English literature except natural science, the 
poets, mataphysicians and literary critics seeming to 
me better interpreters of nature than the dry and tedi- 
ous scientists. 

About the third year of my apprenticeship I was 
by a mere accident led to change my habit of spending 
my evenings with my books, only one evening a week 
being reserved for social enjoyment. My home had 

been transferred to the family of Mr. Hummel, the 

45 



fetor? of <®v %lit 



junior partner in the printing firm. Both Mr. Hum- 
mel and his estimable wife were members of the Luth- 
eran Church and both were earnest Christians, who 
heartily engaged in the work of the church. He was 
the devoted superintendent of the Sunday School and 
she was a helpmeet for him in training their children 
according to the Word of the Lord. I think that they 
had daily family worship, though I was not honored 
with an invitation to attend it. There was no boarder 
beside myself in the family. Of course, I felt some- 
what lonesome in my new relation, having been taken 
away from my student friends and their books. But 
Mr. Hummel also had a little library, and I was thus 
not deprived of all reading matter. I could have con- 
tinued my practice of daily study when the day's work 
was done and the darkness came. But circumstances 
changed my plans, if plans can be spoken of at all in 
my life of perfect freedom after working hours. A 
theatrical company established itself for the winter in 
Harrisburg and a young friend of mine secured the 
contract of printing the daily programmes for distri- 
bution among the audience. For this work payment 
was made in tickets of admission and I was offered a 
ticket each evening for doing the press work; as this 
was not a burdensome task I accepted the offer. Ac- 

46 



htoty of Q$v %itt 



cordingly most of my evenings were spent at the the- 
atre. The perilous proceeding did not trouble my con- 
science then and the epicurean principle which I re- 
member to have avowed, in reply to a warning given 
me by Mr. Hummel, makes it plain to me now that I 
was entering upon the road to ruin. But my good 
name was not forfeited by the error. The company 
produced plays of the better class, a goodly number of 
Shakesperian dramas being among them. My knowl- 
edge of English dramatic literature was thus materi- 
ally increased, and the bad venture was not without 
its intellectual compensation. But it was perilous, and 
it has served to settle my judgment adverse to the 
theatre for all time. Not only the vicious environ- 
ments of the playhouse and the temptations to which 
the play-goer is exposed; not only the immoral sug- 
gestions of many a sentence and scene ; but much more 
the hardening effect upon the heart of stirring the 
emotions by fictitious events, are the grounds of my 
aversion. When strong feelings which naturally act 
upon the will, are aroused without affording the oppor- 
tunity to exert volitional power in corresponding activ- 
ity in real life, the effect is always bad ; and when the 
exposure to such fictitious excitement becomes habit- 
ual, it results in an unnatural sundering of the will 

47 



fetotp of 9®v %itt 



from the motive powers, and the feelings exhaust 
themselves without appropriate action in the life. No 
doubt many a poor soul has thus become a flabby senti- 
mentalist with an abundance of feeling, but altogether 
devoid of fruit in the realities of life. 

I cannot say that I entirely escaped the evil con- 
sequences of my evil conduct. Indeed, they have pre- 
sented themselves as thorns in my experience ever 
since, and warnings which I have had frequent occa- 
sion to give in this regard, were those of a burnt child 
that shuns the fire. But God's goodness, which never 
failed me in all my wanderings, saved me from becom- 
ing a moral wreck. I have learned something since 
then, not only of the abounding grace of our blessed 
Saviour towards our sinful race, but of the wonderful 
ways of His providence. But these ways are past find- 
ing out, and at last the soul that comes to Him finds 
all difficulties solved in the assurance that His mercy 
endureth forever. How it came about is not clear to 
me, unless the influence of my mother's teaching, in 
connection with the covenant of grace into which my 
baptism had introduced me, may seem a sufficient ex- 
planation, but on my return to my room after the the- 
atrical performance, I did not immediately retire, but 
spent some time in meditation and prayer before I laid 

48 



£>tot2 ot 9£g %iti 



my body down to sleep. As I had free access to the 
house at any hour, I could go and come as I pleased. 
The family was not disturbed by my late entrance, and 
never was I met by rebukes or expostulations. The 
only time that Mr. Hummel, or anyone else, spoke to 
me about my late hours, was that which I have men- 
tioned, and that was while I was at work in the office. 
There was no dissipation on my part. I never drank 
intoxicating liquors and never joined gay company in 
carousals after the play. In that respect my life was 
clean and my character was not impeached. But my 
soul was not at rest. I therefore went home when the 
drama closed, and knelt at my bedside in prayer before 
I went to bed, and usually slept well. 

The theatrical performances came to an end when 
the winter was over, and I was constrained to find 
other ways of spending my evenings. My interest in 
books had not departed, and I was as eager as ever to 
learn. But I was no longer among free-thinkers who 
were my companions at Baab's, the wants of my soul 
became more prominent in my thoughts. I had been 
called the preacher in my boyhood among my play- 
mates, and that which led to such a title then was no 
doubt still apparent in my character. My thoughts 

were more directed to religious subjects and I visited 
4 49 



&totg ot $$v %itt 



churches. Of course I had no denominational prefer- 
ences except such as were unconsciously imbedded in 
my early training and were naturally determined by 
my environment. Where the preaching commended 
itself to my literary tastes, I was most inclined to go. 
What I needed most I did not understand, but I felt 
that something was needed. I attended Sunday-School, 
and as my mother's faith was Lutheran and Mr. Hum- 
mel was superintendent of the school conducted by the 
Lutheran Church, all proper motives tended to direct 
me there, especially as my sister was a member of the 
congregation at Harrisburg and I had become an ad- 
mirer of the pastor's eloquence and the choir's music. 
My companions now were mostly Christians, and all 
my inclinations were to seek the peace which my wan- 
derings in the domain of literature had not brought me. 
About that time a wave of wild excitement about 
the coming of Christ swept over the land and great 
revivals were instituted in the churches. So strong 
was the pressure in this direction that Rev. C. W. 
Schaeffer, who was pastor of the Lutheran congre- 
gation at Harrisburg, also introduced the new measure 
and set a revival in motion. What it professed to offer 
was what I wanted, and with many others I presented 
myself at the "anxious bench." But what was offered 

50 



fetotg ot $$v %itt 



there was not what I needed. The revival "workers" 
whispered into my ears, as I knelt in silence before the 
altar, some things which were meant for my encour- 
agement, but which only left me unmoved because of 
their failure to reach my conscience. As I remember 
it there was nothing to show me my utter damnable- 
ness by nature, or the abounding grace of God to de- 
liver from the impending damnation. Pastor Schaeffer 
himself never came to me as I silently suffered my 
need, without enlightenment as to its meaning and 
without an effort to meet my want. I endured this 
revival process for several nights without relief from 
a burden for which it seemed to have made no pro- 
vision, when God gave me courage to speak to Pastor 
Schaeffer about my condition and my need, and to tell 
him that in my case at least the method pursued in the 
"revival" could effect nothing, making bold to say that 
I expected at least good sense instead of the nonsense 
to which I was treated by the officious workers. To 
my surprise the pastor declared that he was of the 
same opinion, and that he proposed, as a better way, 
to gather a class for instruction in revealed truth, 
which he urged me to join. The class was formed, a 
large number, among whom I was glad to be regis- 
tered, joined it, and the revival gave place to a large 

51 



fetor? ot 9®v %Ht 



class of catechumens, with which I was duly confirmed 
and admitted to holy communion. 

It is an ungracious task to criticise a pastor to 
whom I owe so much, but it would be overlooking a 
matter of some importance in my life if I did not men- 
tion the fact, that when I was confirmed I had no 
knowledge of Luther's Catechism, or of any catechism. 
That seems very strange. Certainly it is unusual in 
the Lutheran Church, except where the Lutheran is 
lost under Reformism of the Methodist type and only 
the name is retained. Rev. Schaeffer did not belong 
to that sort of people. Rather he was more strongly 
attached to that which is distinctively Lutheran than 
was liked by many in the congregations. But it was 
a frenzied time, and our good pastor was in a trouble 
somewhat like that which fell upon Melanchthon and 
his colleagues when the fanatics came to Witten- 
berg and Luther was away. I do not know whether 
the like had ever occurred before, but our class of 
catechumens was instructed without the Catechism, 
which I had not seen and which years afterward be- 
came dear to me. But we were not confirmed without 
instruction in Christian truth. The pastor required 
each of us to have a Bible, at each lecture assigned 
certain passages which he requested us to commit to 



52 



fetotg of 9$g JLitt 



memory, and at the following meeting explained and 
applied these texts. There was no catechization, not 
only in the sense that there was no catechism, but also 
in the sense that there was no questioning and an- 
swering. We sat in silence while he expounded to us 
the Scriptures. The method was not good, but the 
work was done well, and we learned the essentials of 
the way of salvation. I had thus come into possession 
not only of some truth that my soul needed, but also 
of a Bible of my own and a habit of using it, and of 
a pastor who cared for my spiritual welfare. God had 
done great things for me and I was glad. 

Thenceforward my interests were in the Church 
and its work. Not only was I a regular attendant at 
the service morning and evening on the Lord's Day 
and at Sunday-School, but at all the meetings during 
the week which were designed for instruction and 
edification. Whenever an opportunity afforded, I 
consulted the pastor about my reading, my spiritual 
wants, and my educational pursuits. He always man- 
ifested a lively interest in me, gave me advice, and 
furnished me with books to promote my growth in 
knowledge and in grace. On one occasion, which is 
ever memorable to me, he spoke to me about a matter 
which then seemed to me not to concern him at all and 

53 



fetorp of 9®v JLitt 



of which I thought he had no knowledge. I had 
joined a secret society. As far as I remember, I had 
done this only with good intent, as is no doubt the 
case with many who are enticed into the lodges which 
exert such a power in our land and form such a for- 
midable hindrance to the Church and its gracious 
work. In some way not known to me, he became 
aware of this fact. In the meeting of our lodge it 
was mentioned that he was the only minister in Har- 
risburg who was not connected with a secret society, 
and that efforts had been made in vain to secure him 
for our order. This made little impression on me, 
then, as I looked upon it merely as a matter of taste 
or policy in the pursuit of benevolent purposes. But 
it did make an impression upon me when he questioned 
me about my connection with the order, and in an 
injured tone informed me that I should have consulted 
him before taking such a step. He was right — as 
I see it now, beyond all question he was right. But 
that was all he said, and I did not then see that his 
claim had any ground or I deserved any rebuke. If 
he had shown me why I did wrong, I think that I was 
in a condition to ponder his reasons and follow the 
right. He might have induced me to leave the so- 
ciety in which I expected to exercise benevolence and 

54 



fetorp DC 9®v JLitt 



directed me to the Church, which is called to exercise 
this in Jesus' name, and thus gives glory to our Saviour, 
while by His grace it accomplishes more even in the 
promotion of man's welfare. But this was not done, 
I remained a member of the temporal secret society 
without further rebuke; and Pastor Schaeffer's testi- 
mony was not then heard against the Lodgery that 
menaced the Church even more than the Methodistic 
revivalism, against which he failed to stand and testify 
and fight the good fight. 

My pastor did not, on account of my being a 
secretist, treat me any otherwise than before. He 
continued to favor me and as far as I now can remem- 
ber, I continued by my conduct to merit his favor as 
much as ever. Whether or not he knew of my desire 
to become a minister of the Gospel, his course always 
appeared to harmonize with my purpose in this regard. 
On the occasion of a commencement at Gettysburg, he 
even arranged for my attendance and provided for 
my entertainment, though he never suggested any 
plan to me by which I could study for the ministry. 

I am not sure that I had any plans of my own 
in this respect. But with or without a plan I labored 
steadily toward the goal that lay beyond the profession 
of a printer. Every opportunity that presented itself 

55 



fetotp of Sgg %itt 



for advancing my education was eagerly embraced. 
Books continued to be my delight, but without losing 
sight of Christ and the Church. Something like a 
definite aim was gradually evolved, and my reading 
and studying were directed towards a preparation for 
college and the theological seminary. My first need 
seemed to me now a knowledge of Latin and Greek, 
which hitherto had not come within the range of my 
eager pursuit of learning. As an opportunity was 
given me in the last year of my apprenticeship to earn 
some money by extra work in the printing office, I 
made arrangement with the principal of the Harris- 
burg Academy to take some studies under him in con- 
nection with my daily work. He was a kindly man 
that took a fatherly interest in me. The plan agreed 
upon worked well, notwithstanding the hardship to 
which it subjected both of us. Lessons were assigned 
me which I was to prepare after working hours at 
night and recite before working hours in the morning. 
He was always ready in the winter even before the 
day dawned, to hear my recitations, and I was punct- 
ual in presenting myself in due time, so that I could 
return for breakfast at the usual hour and be ready 
for duty with the rest of the workmen. So far as I 
could see my ambitious efforts to succeed in my studies 

56 



fetorg of 9p# %itt 



were satisfactory to the principal, Mr. Graham, and 
I am sure that all was satisfactory to me. The ar- 
rangement made was meant to be merely temporary, 
the design being to pursue a regular course as soon 
as conditions should become favorable. My purpose 
was to invest my earnings, after my apprenticeship, 
to the accomplishment of this end. 

My employers favored me and there was no lack 
of work at good wages. I could come and go pretty 
much at will. My governing purpose was to study. 
I accordingly attended the regular classes at the Aca- 
demy, and good Mr. Graham was released from the 
burden of hearing recitations before breakfast. As 
for myself, I hardly realized that it was a hardship, so 
intent was I upon the work. My most distinct remem- 
brance of these regular recitations is that of the Latin 
Class. The teacher was the rector of the Episcopal 
Church at Harrisburg. He was a fat man, and our 
recitations were in the first periods after the noonday 
meal. He sometimes nodded a little, as even Homer 
is reported as having occasionally done. When my 
turn came to translate Caesar he was sometimes 
startled from the little doze which he endeavored in 
vain to resist. My translation was a persistent effort 
to put idiomatic Latin into English words, so that the 

57 



fetorg of 9?p %itt 



thought of the Latin writer would appear in its own 
idiom, notwithstanding the difference of language used 
to express the thought. The construction was of 
course a curiosity in English, and it was no doubt 
sufficiently odd to arouse any ordinary sleeper. The 
good rector could not find it in his heart to reprove 
me for my attempt to talk Latin in English, nor to 
forbid the repetition of what to a less competent edu- 
cator might have looked like levity. He only required 
me to repeat the sense of the passage in as good Eng- 
lish as I could command. With the Greek I had more 
trouble, probably because from the start the erroneous 
notion had taken possession of my mind that it was a 
much more difficult language. It perplexed me to the 
point of despair, though I was not accustomed to be 
frightened from any purpose by ordinary difficulties. 
I persevered, but told my friend, Daniel Worley, who 
was attending college and with whom I was later to 
be associated in Church work, of my arduous labor that 
seemed so unsatisfactory. To him the work had be- 
come easy, and although he was not in a situation to 
give me much direct assistance in my lessons, he greatly 
encouraged me by referring to his own experience, and 
my own success in mastering other difficulties which 

were even more formidable. No doubt the circum- 

58 



&tot# oe S$? Zitt 



stances contributed not a little to my lack of cheer in 
my Greek studies. My desire was to be regular in 
the class preparing for college, but I was deficient in 
that language. The principal advised me to study 
Greek privately in the hope of overtaking my class by 
the opening of next term, promising to help me, and 
assuring me that with proper application on my part 
this would be accomplished. The need of hard work 
was apparent if my plan was to meet with success. It 
may be that I expected too much, and that on this ac- 
count I magnified the difficulties and was not much 
pleased with the results. Mr. Graham always seemed 
satisfied with my work when I regularly presented my- 
self for recitations, or rather examinations, but never 
informed me whether I was reaching my goal or not. 
He was evidently preparing me for a surprise. I per- 
severed, Greek became easier, and I read page after 
page beyond the ordinary lessons because I liked it. 
The term closed, and when I with some diffidence in- 
quired whether the object of my ambition had been 
reached, the kind-hearted principal smiled and in- 
formed me that I had passed that class long ago, and 
was ready for examination with the class a year be- 
yond it. I do not remember for which class in college 
the Academy at Harrisburg under Prof. Graham was 

59 



fetor? of 9®v %itt 



preparing pupils, but I was manifestly nearing my 
goal of entering the class when another event under 
the Providence of God changed the current ; I was not 
to go to Gettysburg. 

When I was brought to the printing office at Har- 
risburg in my fourteenth year I was a lad of good 
physical condition and generally robust health. I had 
endured hardships, but had no organic disease, and was 
ready to endure more. But Harrisburg was not a 
healthy place and malarial affections were frequent. I 
had been subject to fever before, and was not exempt 
from it when I became a printer. In the summer it 
was nothing uncommon for me, when chills ran over 
me, to leave my work and seek refuge under covers 
while the ague shook the bed and the subsequent fever 
shook my brains. But this was a matter so common 
that it was not thought worthy of any special consider- 
ation. Another trouble was more serious. In some 
way I became a victim of a most painful disease called 
inflammatory rheumatism. I think that none but those 
who have experienced it can know the pain which it 
inflicts. Probably my clothing was not sufficient for 
my trip as paper carrier about the city in all sorts of 
weather, especially as underwear was unknown to me 
until after years and an overcoat seemed to me a lux- 

60 



fetorg ot 9®v %itt 



ury. My employers were not unkind, and would no 
doubt have supplied me with everything necessary for 
my health and even comfort, if I had made known to 
them what I needed. 

But I was too modest, not too proud, to make 
known my needs. As I look back upon it now it seems 
to me that I was as little aware of what I needed as 
were my employers. Whatever may have been the 
cause, I suffered from a severe attack of inflamma- 
tory rheumatism while living at Baab's and another 
while living at Hummers. In both cases the family 
was kind to me, but in both cases the ordinary help 
was not sufficient to give me the needed attention in my 
utter helplessness. I suffered intensely for several 
weeks each time, but each time lived through the agony, 
so that after an ordeal of intense suffering without 
sufficient nursing, I could go on with my work. But 
after another interval of several years came the third 
attack. This was after my apprenticeship had ended 
and I was preparing for college, though depending up- 
on my work to pay expenses. This time the disease, 
which seems to have become deeply rooted in my 
racked body, lingered long. Physicians were baffled 
in their effort to master it. I was so far restored that 
I returned to work, but always with the result that my 

61 



fbtotp of 9$v %itt 



pains increased and the work had to be abandoned. 
Finally I was informed by medical men, several of 
whom had been consulted in connection with my 
regular physicians, that there was no hope of recover- 
ing as long as I continued my work in the printing 
office, and that I must abandon this entirely. 

Thus my occupation was gone, and what should I 
do now ? I still had a little money which I had saved 
amid trying circumstances. The abandonment of my 
profession as printer did not imply the abandonment 
of my hopes of becoming a minister. On the contrary, 
another profession seemed inevitable. My choice had 
been made. But how attain my end when the pecu- 
niary means were wanting? It was a discouraging 
situation, but I did not lose heart and hope. Though 
my health was broken, it still seemed to me possible 
to do some work as compositor and at the same time 
pursue my studies, which now had a definite aim. 

One day in the autumn of 1847, Mr. BaalD came 
to me with a letter from the United Brethren Publish- 
ing House, then located at Circleville, Ohio, inquiring 
whether he could not recommend a man to print the 
German semi-monthly paper, which was issued there. 
It was an easy position, requiring a little more than 

half a man's time to do the work assigned, and the 

62 



fetotp ot Q$V %iit 



wages, six dollars per week, was fair, considering the 
small amount of labor demanded. Messrs. Baab & 
Hummel both thought that the place was exactly suited 
to my wants and urged me to accept it. As I desired to 
divide my time between work and study, and if possible 
to meet my necessary expenses and still lay aside part 
of my wages, so that I might after a few years com- 
plete my studies at some institution of learning, I 
agreed to go. On the third day after the offer and 
the consultations about its acceptance, I was on my 
way to Ohio, which was to become my permanent 
home. I left Harrisburg as a printer, and had the 
business of printing in view when I started upon my 
westward journey, but it was virtually bidding farewell 
to my vocation as printer. 



CHAPTER III. 

STUDENT. 

HOW I became a student at our Theological Semi- 
nary at Columbus, is one of the many instances 
in my life illustrating God's wonderful providence over 
His children. 

The story begins with my westward journey in the 
autumn of 1847, although I did not then even know of 
the existence of such a seminary, and it could not enter 
my mind to go to Ohio for that purpose. So far as 
I had thoughts of entering an institution with a view 
to the ministry, only Gettysburg lay in my horizon. 
Becoming a minister was definite in my purpose, but 
only that. The resolve to pursue my calling at Circle- 
ville as printer was only subsidiary to this governing 
purpose. Only so far had my journey to Ohio any 
connection with that which was now the chief object 
of my life. I went west to take charge of the mechan- 
ical department of a German religious paper published 
by the United Brethren. In this I had no interest 
but that of making an honest living and promoting 

my desire to enter the ministry of the Gospel in the 

64 




M. Loy as a Student. 



fetotp of 9$v JLitt 



Evaneglical Lutheran Church, in which I was baptized 
and confirmed and in which I had so far found my 
spiritual nourishment. 

In my hasty preparation for a journey that was 
then thought very long, I had not forgotten to take 
with me some letters of introduction and recommen- 
dation, which might prove serviceable to me in my 
advent among strangers. Two of these proved of 
importance to me beyond the mere business matter 
of receiving a welcome at the publishing house where 
I was employed. One was a general recommendation 
to any Lutheran pastor whom I might meet, the other 
was a cordial introduction to Mr. Jos. Geiger, Attorney- 
at-Law in Circleville. Everything having been ar- 
ranged to my satisfaction, I started off with a cheerful 
heart, not dreaming that it was my final adieu to my 
native state. 

The journey was not without incident. The 

Cumberland Valley Railroad had been built as far as 

Chambersburg, and so far it was easy traveling. But 

the passengers to Pittsburg were more numerous than 

the stage-coaches from that point would accommodate, 

and I could not secure a seat to continue my journey 

on the same day. It was Wednesday, and I learned 

that there were services on that evening in the Lutheran 
5 65 



^tot? ot S^p %ttt 



Church. That at once appealed to me as the right 
place to spend the evening. The attraction was all 
the greater when I was informed that Dr. Sprecher was 
pastor of the congregation. He had buried my dear 
mother and I had not forgotten him. His address 
was edifying and I did not regret that my journey 
was delayed, as it gave me a delightful opportunity 
to hear him preach. But when I presented myself 
again at the stage office and was told that my turn for 
an inside passage would not come until the third day, 
I was discouraged and concluded that it would be 
wiser to take an outside seat, which was offered me 
at once, than to wait several days more for better 
accommodations and in the meantime spend the little 
money which I had in store. Accordingly I took an 
outside seat on an over-crowded coach and went on 
my way. It was not comfortable when rain came, 
though it was a little consolation to know that I had 
a better seat beside the driver than some others who 
had to content themselves with a less tolerable place on 
the top of the coach. When we reached the moun- 
tains sleet came and discomforts increased. The driver 
was a rough looking man whose speech corresponded 
with his looks and whose profanity, when occasionally 

a horse slipped or the coach slid on the icy road along 

66 



fetutg of 9£p %itt 



the mountain declivities, made me tremble ; but he was 
a man of gentle heart for all that and showed me 
nothing but kindness. My frail frame and pale face, 
the result of the sickness from which I had not yet 
fully recovered, no doubt rendered me a pitiful sight 
in the rough weather without sufficient wraps to defy 
the storm ; and with some ungentle expressions he took 
off some of his best protection against the sleet and 
snow that pelted us in the pitiless blasts, and wrapped 
me up, assuring me that he was used to hardships 
whilst I would be killed before the morning came by 
the unmerciful tempest. At the next relay the outside 
passengers were given an opportunity to warm them- 
selves and partially dry their clothing at a fire blazing 
on the hearth of the hostelry, and when notice was 
given that the coach was ready to start again, I ex- 
perienced another instance of human sympathy. One 
of the inside passengers, a large, robust man, who 
had been noticing me in my sorry plight, approached 
me and with an air of authority forbade me to proceed 
on an outside seat in such a condition and in such 
weather, and upon my assuring him that I was entitled 
to no other, he declared that I should go where he 
placed me, and if anybody undertook to molest me he 

would do it at his peril. He then carried me to the 

67 



fetorg of 9£g %iU 



coach, put me in one of the best inside seats, and no 
one resented the usurpation. If any one was wronged 
by the proceeding it was not with my will, and no 
one disturbed me or reproached me during the journey. 
At Pittsburg, which I reached without any serious 
results from the exposure and jolting in crossing the 
mountains, I took a boat for Zanesville down the Ohio 
and up the Muskingum River, as there was then a line 
of boats running between these two places. This part 
of the trip was a delight to me. It was in marked 
contrast with the discomforts experienced on the way 
to the smoky city, of which I had heard much in my 
boyhood, but in which I was not in a mood to take 
much interest when I arrived there. The boat was 
comfortable and the scenery along the banks was 
beautiful. There was nothing to mar the pleasure 
of the river voyage. Not even the scraping of the boat 
in the shallow places disturbed me. But a remark by 
the pilot, with whom I often conversed when the hours 
grew long, made it clear to me why the line between 
Pittsburg and Zanesville was abandoned. Looking 
forward on the Muskingum and perceiving but a nar- 
row channel along the banks of sand, I asked him how 
he would pass such a barrier; he replied that the only 
rational way was to put on more steam and shut his 



&torg of $®v %itt 



eyes. It is the way of many a human project. Our 
boat scraped through and we arrived at Zanesville 
without disaster. The journey from there to Circle- 
ville was more adventuresome. It had to be made by 
stage-coach and the roads were bad. Ohio was then 
comparatively a new state and in many respects was 
still in a primitive condition. The national road was 
indeed in progress and passed through Zanesville. 
But its course was towards Columbus, whither I was 
not going and never thought of going. Even the 
national pike was not inviting to travelers, but the 
other roads were almost impassable. Still the coach 
had other passengers booked for Lancaster besides 
myself, and started out as usual on its regular trip. 
With the help of the travelers, who not only walked 
much of the way, but volunteered their services to 
prevent upsetting of the coach on the hill-sides and 
swamping in the mud of low places, we reached our 
destination in safety, though the way was long and 
the work was hard. The difficulty was not so great 
to reach Circleville on the following day, although I 
learned to appreciate the saying which was common 
in those days, that travel by coach meant paying the 
price and walking all the way, with special good for- 
tune if one was not required to carry a rail to help 



fetotg of 9p£ JLitt 



the coach in swampy emergencies. I learned more of 
such travel later, when I undertook the prolongation 
of my journey to Columbus, but was well content 
when the coach drew up in good condition at the hotel 
in Circleville, which, so far as I then knew, was the 
end of my journey. 

After a little refreshment and rest I was now 
ready for business. Everything was satisfactory at 
the United Brethren printing establishment, though it 
seemed to me that a little surprise was manifested at 
the appearance there of a mere boy to do the expected 
work. Mr. Geiger, to whom I had a letter of intro- 
duction from his father, lived across the street from 
the hotel, and I made no delay in paying him a visit 
and presenting the letter. He immediately showed 
an interest in me, and when in our conversation I 
mentioned Rev. Schaeffer's letter, he proposed at once 
to accompany me to the house of Rev. J. Roof, who 
was pastor of the Lutheran congregation at Circleville. 
We there talked further of my purpose and the result 
was the proposal of Rev. Roof that I should at once 
go to Columbus and enter the Theological Seminary 
of the Ev. Lutheran Synod of Ohio. I had never 
heard of such a Seminary and of such a Synod, but 

that presented no difficulty to my mind. The difficulty 

70 



&tot$ ot 9$v %iit 



was rather that I had assumed an obligation to the 
printing house at Circleville, and that I had no money 
to support myself at Columbus, as my trip had well- 
nigh exhausted my savings. But my new friends 
persisted in their opinion that the obstacles in my way 
were not insurmountable. Past. Roof at once proposed 
to provide for my support at the Seminary, and both 
he and Mr. Geiger agreed that a way could be found 
by which I could be honorably released from my con- 
tract with the United Brethren. At the close of our 
protracted conference, Mr. Geiger insisted that instead 
of returning to the hotel, as was my intention, I should 
accompany him to his house and make that my home 
during my stay at Circleville. He at once sent for my 
baggage and had it taken to the comfortable room 
which he assigned to me. I was bewildered by all this 
kindness to a stranger, especially as I was cordially 
welcomed and treated as a member of the family by 
Mrs. Geiger, than whom I have rarely met a more 
intelligent and genial body. The weeks spent in that 
hospitable home were among the pleasantest of my life, 
and my heart never ceased to be grateful to my new 
friends. 

It did not prove as difficult to make arrangements 

for going to Columbus as I had apprehended. The 

71 



htoty si #g %itt 



managers of the publishing house were not only rea- 
sonable, but even generous. They had a just claim 
upon my services. It was easy to see how my failure 
to do the work for which I had been employed would 
embarrass them. The paper must be issued, and I 
owed it to them as they owed it to their subscribers to 
issue it. We agreed that I should be freed from all 
further obligations if I would print two numbers, 
which would allow them a month's time to secure an- 
other printer, the paper being a semi-monthly. We 
further agreed that I should do this work at my con- 
venience, without waiting until the second issue was 
due. The editor of the paper furnished the copy as 
fast as I needed it; and in two weeks my work was 
done, my purse was replenished by the $24 for four 
weeks' labor according to the original contract, and 
I was ready for the Seminary. Meantime Past. Roof 
had made all the necessary preparations for my recep- 
tion at Columbus. 

I could have gone on the day after my work was 
done, but the coach was not ready. Heavy rains had 
soaked the roads and swollen the streams, and when I 
with several others appeared at the office, the manager 
of the stage line informed us that it would be impossible 

to send out a coach that day. We waited until the next 

72 



feisstg of S$g ULiU 



morning, but were again told that the horses could 
not drag the heavy coach through the deep mud and 
that the streams could not be crossed. This was re- 
peated several days, when some who had engaged pas- 
sage to Columbus became uneasy. One morning, long 
before the dawn appeared, when we presented ourselves 
as usual at the office, two lawyers protested that longer 
delay would be unendurable, that on the following day 
they had business in court which must be attended to, 
and that some way must be devised to take them to 
Columbus. My business was not as urgent as theirs, 
but I was as eager to go as any of them and helped 
all I could to bring pressure to bear on the manager 
of the coach line. He was a man to be reasoned with. 
He appreciated the perplexing situation of those upon 
whom the necessity lay of being in Columbus on the 
morrow. But he saw no practicable way of affording 
relief. He assured us that daily inspections were made 
of the route, and that as soon as it could be done with- 
out imminent danger, a coach would be started to Col- 
umbus. The anxious attorneys insisted that they must 
go and that heroic measures should be adopted when 
necessity demands it. The outcome of the earnest 
consultation was that if a driver could be found who 

would undertake the daring journey and the passen- 

73 



fetorg of SS& Ette 



gers would assume all risks of their lives and their 
belongings, he would send out a coach. One of the 
drivers present, who averred that he had gone through 
many a troublesome trip and who knew little of fear, 
agreed to go, provided that a pilot should be sent ahead 
to select the path and the route; and the passengers 
agreed to assume all risks so far as it concerned them- 
selves. It was expressly agreed that if at any point 
on the way the pilot should decide that the coach can 
go no further, the passengers must themselves provide 
a way to go on or to get back. It was not a wise 
agreement, but the voice of the attorney who had large 
interests at stake prevailed, and we all consented. So 
we started off about day-break on the venturesome trip. 
I am diffident about saying much of our adven- 
tures because, as conditions now are, some of them will 
hardly seem probable. It was a perilous journey. 
Ever and anon the pilot on horse-back would come back 
to the coach and inform the driver that he must leave 
the roadway which was washed by overflowing streams, 
if he was still resolved to go on. Fences were laid 
down and we went on. Once he reported that the 
bridge across a creek which we must pass was a foot 
or more under water, and that we must stop or risk our 

lives in the current. We went on without missing the 

74 



fetotg of S^g Hitt 



overflowed bridge, and reached the other side in safety. 
At another time he reported that a bridge was entirely 
washed away and that there was no possibility of 
further advance unless a way were devised to effect a 
crossing. Under the driver's direction we built an 
emergency bridge and crossed it without mishap. At 
another place he reported that a mere rivulet had be- 
come too deep for horses and coach, and that it would 
endanger the lives of all the passengers to attempt a 
crossing. A council was held and in the desperate 
mood which possessed all of us, we voted that the 
driver should plunge into the current in the endeavor 
to reach the other side. — He failed. — The coach 
stuck fast in the middle of the stream and no effort 
could move it. But as the bed of the rivulet was 
narrow, the leading horses were with their front feet 
on the other side, while the coach was mired in the 
middle. The only proper thing to do now was to climb 
out and over the horses, which we all did and thus 
escaped, while the coach, relieved of its load, was pulled 
through without damage. With much labor we finally 
reached Columbus after night-fall, weary, but un- 
harmed. 

During the few weeks of my sojourn at Circle- 

ville I had made some pleasant acquaintances besides 

75 



fetotp ot #» 3Utt 



the good friends who received me so cordially, and I 
left with some regret to go again among strangers. 
But it has always been my happy lot to find good peo- 
ple in the world that lieth in wickedness. Pastor Roof 
had prepared the way for me in Columbus, and I was 
at once welcomed at the Seminary as a brother, not 
treated as a stranger, and I soon felt myself at home 
in the new conditions and surroundings. 

Rev. C. Spielmann, who had charge of the board- 
ing house, received me kindly, and he and his good 
wife, who was one of the most motherly of women, 
did all that was possible for my comfort, so that it was 
not long until I was enjoying the balmy sleep that 
tired nature needs for its restoration. The morning 
found me rested and ready for work. But everything 
was unusual around me and I had to adapt myself to 
circumstances that were strange to me, though I was 
not treated as a stranger. 

Rev. Spielmann, the head of the family in which 

the boarders of the Seminary belonged, was a man 

whose one passion was love for Christ and the Church 

which He had purchased with His own blood, and 

which He had constituted His Body, and for the Ev. 

Lutheran Church in particular with its pure word and 

sacrament as the only adequate representation of that 

76 




Rev. C. Spielmanx. 



fetorp ot 9®v %iit 



Body among the visible churches. He had been one 
of the first students of the Columbus Seminary, and 
in his poverty was inured to hardships. His zeal in 
the work of the ministry had well nigh consumed him, 
and although yet a young man was already an invalid. 
But as long as he was able to do anything to promote 
the interests of the Church, he refused to rest from his 
labors, and still continued, as he did throughout a 
long life, to do what he could. He was now, besides 
being house-father to the Seminary, the chief Editor 
of the Lutheran Standard, an English semi-monthly 
journal which the Ohio Synod was publishing under 
many difficulties. To his influence I am indebted for 
much of the good which afterwards inspired me in the 
work of the Church, and for many years I had the 
pleasure of counting him one of my closest friends and 
of working together with him in the service of the 
dear Master who is our Saviour. He left us only a 
few years ago, and as I write I anticipate the joy of 
meeting him in our heavenly home not many days 
hence. 

In the morning I was introduced to Prof. W. F. 
Lehmann, who was at that time the only teacher in the 
Seminary. He, too, received me kindly, but with less 

demonstrativeness than his older co-worker in the 

77 



&toiv of 9pg JLite 



cause to which they were equally devoted. He, too, 
had received his theological education at the Seminary 
of which he was now the head, and had been a fel- 
low student with Rev. Spielmann. They had en- 
dured hardness together as students, had labored 
in the ministry, and remained fast friends during 
all their lives. Prof. Lehmann was then barely 
twenty-six years of age, but during the short period 
of his service before my becoming a student under 
him had already given proof of his fitness for the 
place to which he had been called. He had not had 
the advantages of a thorough college training, but his 
attainments in many of the branches usually taught at 
colleges were superior to those of many a graduate, 
and his intellectual power was extraordinary. He had 
not the magnetism of Rev. Spielmann, but I soon 
learned to appreciate his gifts and untiring devotion to 
his work, and found in him, while a student and ever 
after, a constant friend, whose conscientiousness atoned 
for his apparent coldness. 

In a few days I learned how provision was made 
for the support of theological students who lacked 
means of their own. I was called before a Synodical 
committee for an examination, and as this proved sat- 
isfactory was received as a beneficiary. That meant 

78 




Prof. W. F. Lehmann. 



fetotp of 9pp %itt 



that the Synod would provide for my board and furn- 
ish me a room, while for all the rest I must look to my 
own resources. At the end of each term it was re- 
quired that a note should be given by the beneficiary 
for the amount expended, said note made payable 
without interest whenever he felt able to refund the 
money. The terms seemed to me perfectly fair, and 
so they seem to me still. I presume that I was as 
sensitive in regard to the needless imposition of bur- 
dens as the average student, but the debt never bur- 
dened me, although it admonished me to indulge in no 
luxuries which would require the use of money that 
was much needed in a work whose benefits I held in 
grateful remembrance. My salary was small when I 
entered the ministry, but it required only economy 
which is desirable under any circumstances to refund 
in a few years all that was received. The plan adopted 
in that day of small things was excellent, and with 
a few modifications looking to a better certification of 
the applicant's worthiness would still be better, in my 
estimation, than any which has been adopted since. 
With my small savings, amounting now to little more 
than the wages which I received for my work at Cir- 
cleville, my financial prospects were not brilliant, but 
I returned to my room in good spirits. What I had 



79 



fetPtg of 9£g %itt 



long desired was now realized. I was a regular stu- 
dent in a Theological Seminary. 

There was as little grandeur in my new environ- 
ment as there was in the magnitude of my purse. I 
had a little preparation for this in the contrast between 
the Lutheran Church in Circleville and that at Har- 
risburg, and I was not offended or in any way dissat- 
isfied or disheartened. The Ohio Synod, if not still 
in its infancy, being nearly thirty years of age, had 
only recently learned to walk and go forward without 
its Pennsylvania mother. It had worked hard and 
struggled bravely, small and poor as it was, and had 
reached its present stage through tribulations. It was 
barely twelve years old when it established the Sem- 
inary at Canton, and this consisted only in appointing 
Rev. Wm, Schmidt, who was pastor at that place, to 
prepare several young men for the ministry. A year 
later he was transferred to Columbus with his little 
company of students. When he died at an early age, 
the Synod had grown somewhat stronger and at- 
tempted larger things. Two professors of theology 
were appointed, but dissensions arose between them, 
and they had to abandon the work. A less sturdy 
body of Christians might have been discouraged and 
abandoned it with them. The Synod did not abandon 

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it, but went forward in the name of the Lord, and did 
not fail. The blow to the Seminary was severe, in- 
volving the congregation which had been gathered in 
Columbus and making further support of the institu- 
tion difficult. Synod was forced to begin again on a 
smaller scale. When I entered the Seminary it had 
but the one professor who had but recently taken up 
the work, and of him more was expected than any 
man could adequately render. But Prof. Lehmann was 
a man of rugged and great power of physical endur- 
ance as well as of stalwart faith and indomitable will, 
and the work was in good progress when I came. He 
had reorganized the congregational work, forming two 
congregations, one German, the other English, of both 
of which he was pastor ; and also the seminary work, 
forming a preparatory school after the manner of an 
academy, and a school for the study of theology after 
the manner of a seminary, of both of which he was 
teacher. It was a herculean task for which no man 
was sufficient, but he did what he could and his work 
was not in vain in the Lord. The work gradually 
grew, help was supplied as means increased, and the 
institution became one of power and influence in the 
land. 

The Seminary had a fine piece of property in the 
6 81 



fetotg of 9®v %iit 



southern portion of the city, consisting of ten acres of 
land extending from High street westward to the 
Scioto river. On this the Synod had erected a two- 
story brick house which served as a residence for the 
professor and the necessary class room, and a larger 
three-story building which was comparatively new as 
a home for the house-father and a boarding house 
for the students. In the rear of the latter was a frame 
structure where the "Lutheran Standard" was printed. 
Everything was plain and unpretentious, but it was 
adapted to the simple wants of the institution, and all 
were contented and thankful to be so well housed. 

In connection with the theological branches, 
which I pursued with eager assiduity, I continued the 
study of Latin and Greek, later adding also the He- 
brew. There were but one or two others who were 
far enough advanced to form with me a class in Livy 
and Homer, while the class reading the Greek New 
Testament contained a few more. As there were only 
eight or ten of us in all, and some of these only in the 
preparatory department without designing to study 
theology, the classes were necessarily small. This en- 
abled the over-burdened teacher to give more attention 
to the wants of each individual during the recitations, 



82 



btnv ot $®v %iit 



although it imposed the necessity of making these less 
frequent. 

I made satisfactory progress in the study of lan- 
guages, to which my work in the preparatory course 
was limited, so that when I left the Seminary I could 
read the easier theological Latin without much need 
of mental translation, and had a good foundation for 
the study of the Scriptures in the original tongues 
for all the practical purposes of a pastor. To a critical 
scholarship in philology, as it is requisite for learned 
exegesis, I never attained, as circumstances always 
directed my studies into a different channel. 

But I had come to Columbus for the purpose of 
preparing for the ministry, and as I had acquired suf- 
ficient knowledge of languages to meet all the demands 
of the Seminary, my main strength was devoted to 
theology, of which I knew but little. That a system 
different from that in vogue at Gettysburg, whither I 
had intended to go as soon as my means would permit, 
was taught here, did not at all trouble me. I was too 
ignorant of doctrinal differences to make any account 
of this, and when in the progress of my study I became 
aware of dividing lines between churches of different 
denominations and of disagreements and distinctions 

even among those calling themselves Lutherans, my 

83 



&>tot£ of Q$t %itt 



choice was already made. I knew Christianity only 
as I learned it in the Lutheran Church, and the Luth- 
eran theology as it was taught in the Seminary was 
built on the foundation which had been laid in my 
soul and accorded with the faith by which I lived my 
Christian life, so that I had no difficulties in this re- 
spect. What was taught in the Catechism of Luther 
and in the Augsburg Confession, with which I now 
became acquainted, seemed to me in exact accordance 
with what is taught in the Scriptures, the inspiration 
and infallible authority of which I never doubted. 
Thus as I grew in the knowledge of the Bible and of 
the Lutheran Confession, I grew also in my admira- 
tion of the great Church of the Reformation and 
waxed stronger in the faith which that Church con- 
fesses. Notwithstanding that I had come from a con- 
gregation of the General Synod, which was not in the 
best repute among Ohioans, my Lutheran faith and 
firmness were never called in question. The history 
of the Church made it plain to me that the kingdom 
which Christ established on earth and which is founded 
upon the truth to which He bears witness, cannot be 
maintained by human wisdom or might, but lives and 
flourishes only by the power of its King, and that its 

subjects are loyal and render effectual service in tnain- 

84 



fetotg ot 9®y %itt 



taining and spreading that kingdom only when they 
strictly adhere to that truth and become witnesses both 
of its heavenly authority and saving power. And this 
other thing became plain to me also, that the Reforma- 
tion was the work of this King of saints and the Luth- 
eran Church is the result of that work. In accordance 
with this it seemed to me that complete fidelity to the 
Lord required strict fidelity to the Lutheran Church. 
Of course, not everything pertaining to this subject 
was then perfectly clear in my mind, but my Lutheran 
convictions were growing in strength. 

To this my intercourse with Rev. Spielmann per- 
haps contributed as much as the instruction of Prof. 
Lehmann. I think both were then more pronounced in 
their Lutheranism than was usual in the Ohio Synod, 
but by no means in antagonism to the prevailing senti- 
ment. They were leaders and were therefore in ad- 
vance of the flock. But Pastor Spielmann, who was 
much more a man of feeling and therefore less reticent 
than our teacher, who never became enthusiastic and 
had not the gift of inspiring others with enthusiasm, 
was the leading spirit among us boys. He loved the 
Church of the Reformation with a love so intense that 
it would find expression always and everywhere, if 
the least opportunity was offered. 

85 



&tot# of 9®v %itt 



At that time the work of the Saxon Lutherans 
who formed the Synod of Missouri had already begun, 
and the "Lutheraner" was read with avidity by Bro. 
Spielmann and regularly given to me for perusal. I 
read it eagerly, and rejoiced in the testimony which it 
gave to the truth which the Reformation had restored 
to the Church and in the zeal which it displayed in the 
defence of that truth. It was a good work which the 
Missourians took in hand, and it did not require much 
Lutheran life to subject a person to the stimulating 
power of their fervent zeal and stirring appeals. 

As far as I can remember there was not the re- 
motest danger that the publications of the Lutherans 
of Missouri, and Bro. Spielmann's sympathy with their 
earnest self-denying labors, would work any injury to 
our Seminary and its aims and interests, notwithstand- 
ing that the men at the head of the Lutheran move- 
ment in the west were not partial to the Ohio Synod, 
from which a few of those who joined it had seceded. 
At that time there was great need for strenuous efforts 
to revive in Lutheran hearts a consciousness of their 
rich heritage, and so far as these efforts met with any 
success in our Seminary it inured entirely to the ben- 
efit of the Ohio Synod, which never had a more loyal 

and devoted member than Rev. Spielmann, and among 

86 



&totp of 9pg JLitt 



the students probably I was more powerfully influenced 
than the others, and I labored in the Ohio Synod with 
a heart sincerely devoted to its welfare and its work 
all my life. 

The antecedents of all of us were such as to sug- 
gest the need of such a tonic to brace us against the 
strong winds of liberalism and fanaticism and union- 
ism that were blowing over the land, or to stir us up 
amid the indifferentism which was destroying all earn- 
est faith and life. Of my fellow students two were 
from Germany and had little knowledge of the 
Church's condition and wants in this land of sects; 
one had studied law and like the other two, whose ex- 
perience had all been gathered in state churches, had 
great confidence in the power of government by eccle- 
siastical authority; one was from Switzerland, who 
with all his piety needed a better appreciation of pure 
doctrine ; the other two were from Ohio congregations 
and had not had more opportunity than myself to know 
the history of the Lutheran Church and to realize its 
high calling in this land of the free. In every respect 
the literature of the "old Lutherans" circulated among 
us was a benefit to the Seminary. It was an effective 
agency to counteract the evil tendencies of the time 
to make the great Church of the Reformation merely 

87 



fetotp of 9£p %itt 



an insignificant sect among the other denominations 
of this country. Prof. Lehmann never fully sympa- 
thized with the exclusiveness of the Lutheranism re- 
cently imported from Germany, and he had some 
reason for this, because it made too little account of 
the past history of the Church in America and of ex- 
isting conditions in consequence of that history ; but I 
think he was glad of the assistance which it rendered 
him in impressing on our minds the preciousness of 
the doctrines which he taught. 

During my stay at the Seminary I confined myself 
closely to my studies, going out but little and restrict- 
ing my social life almost exclusively to those connected 
with the Seminary. Occasionally I visited families 
connected with our small congregation in the city, 
especially those of Messrs. Lewis and John Heyl, who 
always treated me kindly. As I was a lover of music, 
I met with the choir of the church once a week, and 
occasionally Prof. Lehmann honored me by calling at 
my room to play duetts on the flute, an instrument of 
which we were both fond, though he was much the 
better player. Now and then I was the guest of a 
family in the country, where I sometimes spent sev- 
eral days with great delight and equal benefit. The 
company of ladies was not sought. It was much en- 

88 



fetotp of S£g %itt 



joyed when it came in my way, but I did not crave it, 
thinking then as I think now that students can do their 
work better without much indulgence in such pleas- 
ures. 

To meet my necessary expenses after my little 
stock of money was exhausted I fell back upon my 
trade. The "Standard" was printed in a small build- 
ing in the rear of the boarding house, and the printers 
usually had work for me when I applied. In former 
years I had learned how to engage in work and study 
at the same time. I never allowed my labor in the 
printing office to interfere with my work in the Sem- 
inary, but earned my money while my fellow students 
played or slept. This was not conducive to my health, 
as it had not been in my earlier experiences at Harris- 
burg, but I had no other means of putting money into 
my empty purse. So far as I can recollect I received, 
during my whole Seminary course, only two dollars 
that I did not earn by my own labor. These were given 
me by Pastor Roof, at whose instance I had come to 
Columbus, at whose house I always found a hospita- 
ble home when I chose to visit Circleville, who dur- 
ing my whole course took a kindly interest in my 
welfare, and to whom I never ceased to be grateful. 
It was always a source of regret to me that he, after 

m 



&tor g of ®$y %itt 



I began my work in the ministry, interpreted my disa- 
greement with him in some matters of Church practice 
as sheer ingratitude. But I had no reason to complain 
since I had the power to supply my needs by God's 
blessing through my own labor. When our own print- 
ing office could not give me enough work, as during 
vacations, the State Journal printing house in the city 
was always ready to employ me, and it was something 
of a temptation to me that, at the close of my studies 
at the Seminary, a position was offered me as printer 
with wages much in excess of the salary which I was 
to receive as minister of the gospel. But God gave 
me grace to adhere to my purpose, notwithstanding 
the great difficulties which by His inscrutable provi- 
dence sometimes came in the way of its execution. 

My health was not robust when I entered the Sem- 
inary, and it was not better when I left it. Nearly 
during my whole course I suffered from nervous head- 
ache. A renewed attack of inflammatory rheuma- 
tism with its intense pain kept me confined for the 
usual term of several weeks in almost perfect helpless- 
ness while I was at the Seminary. But I was not dis- 
mayed. After the disease had run its course, I con- 
tinued my studies, notwithstanding the hindrance 

caused by my infirmity. But in the last term a more 

90 



&tot# of 9$V %itt 



serious impediment was interposed. One morning 
upon arising, without knowing the cause, I found it 
difficult to speak, and when later I attempted to play 
the flute, I failed to produce a sound. Closer investi- 
gation showed that my left eye would not close, that 
my face was drawn awry, and that the muscles of the 
whole left side of the face refused to perform their 
functions. After several days of worry over what I 
thought was an unusually severe cold, I consulted a 
physician. He pronounced it facial paralysis and in- 
formed me that a cure, if possible at all, would be a 
slow process. The process was so slow that there was 
ample reason for disheartenment. Other physicians 
were consulted, six or eight in all, and none gave me 
much encouragement, one insisting that it must affect 
my brain and make further progress in intellectual 
pursuits impossible, and another warning me that a 
complete paralysis of my left side would probably 
follow in the near future. Only one of them, the well 
known Dr. Smith, gave me any hope. It was a trying 
time, and little comfort was to be found anywhere, but 
in the goodness of God, who had thus far blessed me 
above all I could ask or think. I had no pain, but my 
studies were continued only with difficulty under cir- 
cumstances so distressing. Dr. Smith persevered, but 

91 



fetotg of 9p£ %itt 



without much apparent success. My friends extended 
their sympathy and did for my comfort what lay in 
their power, but my hopes seemed blasted on the eve 
of their fulfilment. It was not easy for others to advise 
or for me to decide what to do. Prof. Lehmann told 
me that if I did not recover it was manifestly the Lord's 
will that I should serve Him in some other way than 
by preaching the gospel, and assured me that He who 
doeth all things well would provide for me, whatever 
betide. It was all true, and I believed it all, but the 
comfort seemed to me cold. There was nothing for me 
to do but to go on with the work in hand as well as 
I could and await further developments. One day 
Dr. Smith appeared in an unusually happy mood after 
examining me. There were slight twitchings in the 
paralyzed muscles of my face responding to the treat- 
ment with strychnine, and this gave him hope of ulti- 
mate success. He then informed me that there was 
but one more remedy known to him, that he had re- 
solved to try this yet, and that if this failed he would 
abandon the case as hopeless. Now he was confident 
that help was at hand. The strychnine treatment was 
continued with new energy, the improvement was daily 
noticeable, and in a few weeks I was able to close my 
eye and move my lip. I could again articulate dis- 

92 



fetotg of S#g %Ht 



tinctly, and in a month or two it was evident to all 
concerned that my affliction would be no bar to my 
entering the ministry. Praising God I took courage, 
and when the time fixed for the examination of can- 
didates came I was ready. That my course at the 
Seminary was so short was not my doing. The author- 
ities no doubt placed me on the list because there was 
a scarcity of ministers and I was thought qualified for 
the work. 

According to information received afterwards I 
had been selected for the Somerset charge, which was 
one of the most important vacancies in the Synod, and 
in which both Rev. Spielmann and Prof. Lehmann had 
been pastors, but that my conduct on a certain occasion 
had changed the purpose of those making the nomin- 
ations. That was not creditable to me. But I was en- 
tirely innocent in the matter, as others acted on the 
presumption that I had a knowledge of certain facts 
of which I was entirely ignorant. But I never had 
reason to regret that I was called to Delaware, even if 
it were true that under other circumstances I would 
have been proposed for another charge. The two con- 
gregations forming the Delaware charge elected me 
as their pastor, and thither in the name of the Lord I 

went as minister of the gospel. 

93 



CHAPTER IV. 

PASTOR. 

WHEN I bade adieu to the Seminary I was not 
yet fully aware of the things that were before 
me; but I started off on a rather rough day in the 
stage-coach to assume the pastorate at Delaware. 
Probably if I had known beforehand all that this meant, 
I would not have gone in a mood so cheerful. Neither 
the solemn import of the pastoral office in general, with 
its arduous work and fearful responsibilities, nor the 
peculiar demands of the charge accepted at Delaware, 
were adequately appreciated. I use the word probably, 
because it would not be just to myself if I had made 
the impression that I entered upon the great office 
with a boyish levity that had little regard for the in- 
finite import of the work undertaken. I had some 
sense of this and did not rush recklessly into the office ; 
but that sense deepened and became more terrifying 
as I grew older, and my special charge became better 
known. 

I had just reached the twenty-first year of my age 

when I began my work at Delaware, in March, 1849. 

94 



fetorp of fl£g JLitt 



Physically I was not in a condition to endure much 
hardness, an emaciated, pale faced youth, looking so 
frail, as I was afterwards told, that when the subject 
of sending a delegate to Synod, which met a few 
months later, was discussed among the members, the 
fear that I would die on the way was a factor to be 
reckoned with. I could not impress the congregation 
as a man inured to hard labor and ready for emer- 
gencies. But I was zealously affected in the good 
cause in which I was engaged, the congregation was 
satisfied, and gradually gave me their confidence, 
and God in His goodness blessed my labors, notwith- 
standing all their human imperfections, and crowned 
them with success. My weak body was more than 
counterbalanced by the strength which the Lord 
whom I served had given my soul, and the Gospel 
which I preached exerted its power unto salvation. 
People said that my preaching was eloquent and there- 
fore effective ; but eloquence is a virtue, and those who 
speak because they believe, and set forth the eternal 
truth in a tone and manner making it plain to all hear- 
ers that they are ready to die for it, are always eloquent, 
though they have only the little learning and command 
of language which I possessed, or even less. 

The condition of the charge which I accepted was 
95 



fetor? of 9®v %itt 



not inspiring, unless it be assumed, as may be done 
without trifling with logic, that the greater the need 
of zealous work the greater the inspiration to an 
earnest soul to exert all its powers for its performance. 
My predecessors in the congregation at Delaware 
were not impressed with the necessity of maintaining 
the principles of the Ev. Lutheran Church with the 
strictness which in the palmy days of the Reformation 
led to the separation of the Zwinglians and the Calvin- 
ists from the Lutheran Church. Our congregation and 
that of the German Reformed occupied the same build- 
ing, using it for worship on alternate Sundays. It was 
said that in earlier days one pastor for both was 
thought sufficient, and that promiscuous communion 
troubled no one's conscience. Liberalism and what was 
called brotherly love extended even so far that Re- 
formed ministers prepared the children of both denomi- 
nations for confirmation, using the catechisms of both 
for instruction, and making only this difference that 
afterwards the Lutheran catechumens were confirmed 
by a Lutheran pastor who was invited to officiate for 
the occasion. As one good turn deserves another, the 
Lutheran pastor was expected to render the Reformed 
party the same service. Matters were not quite so 
bad when I took charge at Delaware. According to 




The Rev. M. Loy as Pastor at Delaware, Ohio. 



&totp of 8£g JLite 



my remembrance it would even have been impossible 
for me to accept the call pledging me to treat the Re- 
formed as if they were Lutherans, and no such obli- 
gation was imposed upon me. The Reformed congre- 
gation had its own pastor, and I was simply called to 
be pastor of the Lutheran congregation which wor- 
shiped in the same church building. 

There was a small congregation at Middletown, 
now Prospect, which was part of the parish to which 
I was called. As that was dependent for its minis- 
trations upon Delaware, the conditions there were the 
same. If any distinction must be made it was even 
more decidedly unionistic than the mother congrega- 
tion. There also the Reformed and the Lutheran 
united in building a church, and when the Reformed 
had a pastor at Delaware, he preached also at Prospect. 

That the congregations were neither large nor 
wealthy is manifest from the provision made for my 
support. No fixed salary was promised, but a sub- 
scription was started and I was to receive the amount 
collected, which would aggregate $250. Delaware 
raising $170 and Prospect $80. 

The question of money had never much engaged 
my thoughts, except so far as it was necessary to meet 
my necessary expenses, and I thought I could live on 



7 97 



&totp of 9$v %itt 



the sum indicated, and even on less if an emergency 
came. Subsequent developments showed how import- 
ant my unselfishness, at least in this respect, was for 
the work which I had taken in hand. 

My sincere purpose and corresponding effort was 
to preach the Gospel in its purity as well as I knew 
how, and to declare the whole counsel of God as plainly 
as I could, without much fear of men and without much 
conscious endeavor to gain their favor. But I am 
writing now of events that lie half a century behind 
me, and the picture may receive some coloring and 
some shading from present mental conditions. But to 
the best of my recollection my sincere desire was to set 
forth the truth of God and to move the people to ac- 
cept it-and manifest this acceptance by a life of holiness 
to their Redeemer's praise. That I did not conceal the 
distinctive doctrines of the Lutheran Church, but rather 
gave prominence to them and sometimes, as occasion 
offered, in polemical opposition to errors set against 
them, was under the circumstances unavoidable. In 
my pastoral visits also the condition of the congrega- 
tion and the superior claims of the Lutheran as the 
mother Church of Protestantism was a favorite topic 
of conversation. Little by little a better appreciation 
of our rich possessions as Ev. Lutherans was thus in- 



&totp of 9p? Hiit 



stilled, and our people stood less shamefaced and less 
wavering amid the wind and waves of fanaticism which 
swept over our town of Delaware, where the Metho- 
dists had located their Wesleyan University and which 
was so much under the sway of Methodism that people 
talked about changing its name to Wesleyville. Some 
of the more sanguine of that denomination even were 
bold to prophesy that not many years hence the only 
churches of the town would be Methodist. When 
members of my congregation told me of these things 
my answer could hardly be other than that "the Word 
of God they shall let stand and not a thank have for 
it." My people became more firm and bold, and I was 
not dismayed but rather stirred up to exert all the 
power that God gave me to proclaim and defend His 
truth, against which the gates of hell, I well knew, 
should not prevail. By the grace of God my people 
grew stronger, and I grew stronger with them. And 
the congregation prospered as never before. 

At the start the weakness manifested was mostly 
my own. When we had gained a little standing in 
the town I was overrun with Unionistic petitions to join 
in various enterprises of the churches and enlist my 
congregation in their promotion. Not willing to for- 
feit the little prestige which we had gained, I warded 



&my oe 9®v Uitt 



off the solicitations by various pleas, chief among 
which was that our congregation was German and that 
this would not permit an active co-operation with 
English congregations. If there is anything which I 
am now ashamed of, as I look back upon these trying 
times, it is this temporizing with sects against which 
I was bound to contend. But it was only for a little 
while that the flesh gained ascendency by resorts to 
the sophistry of human reason. The sectarians, under 
the promptings of a false conception of Christian love, 
insisted in their efforts to enlist me in their unionistic 
projects until I was compelled and by the grace of God 
was enabled to stand unequivocally by my colors and 
declare my inability with a good conscience to comply 
with their request. Then I had peace and, while wild 
fanatics condemned me and my people, I gained in the 
respect of the more intelligent part of the community 
and in the confidence of my congregation. 

But it was not the Delaware public to which I was 
called to minister. Its estimate of me, important as 
it was in regard to my moral worth, was a secondary 
matter in regard to my Church work. With a position 
that I was compelled to take in regard to the relation of 
my congregation to others, I could not expect the sym- 
pathy of Christians who professed a different faith, 

100 



fetotg ot ^V %iit 



especially since then as now the prevailing sentiment 
was against emphasizing distinctive doctrines and 
favorable to fraternal fellowship without reference to 
denominational differences. It is a well nigh hopeless 
task in our time to convince members of a sect that 
divisions in the Church are sin, and that persistence in 
the maintenance of separate church organizations, 
without insisting on their distinctive doctrines as a jus- 
tification in conscience of the division so rendered nec- 
essary by fidelity to the truth revealed in the Holy 
Scriptures, is a confession of guilt. It ought to be plain 
to any sane mind that a difference which justified the 
organization of the separate church must forbid church 
fellowship with those from whom the separation took 
place. If it is possible with a good conscience to re- 
main in fellowship with the church to which w r e belong 
it is a violation of the divine command to start a new 
church ; if it is impossible and thus a scriptural ground 
of separation exists, that which makes it necessary to 
renounce the former fellowship must remain a barrier 
in the way of fellowship after as well as before the 
separation. I was a Lutheran. Christianity as I knew 
it, and as I know it now, is Lutheran. My maternal 
training, my Christian experiences, and my theological 

education, were all Lutheran. I had indeed learned 

101 



fetors ot 9$j? %itt 



something of other denominations of Christians. My 
habit when I was a printer at Harrisburg was, at one 
period, to attend any church that suited my fancy. I 
visited camp meetings and was a spectator at many a 
so-called revival. I had no prejudices that hindered 
the effect of any legitimate appeal to my conscience. 
My ignorance of denominational differences was a 
protection against that. But I was sincere when at my 
confirmation I vowed allegiance to the Ev. Lutheran 
Church. My theological education did not teach me to 
ignore other churches. I learned something more about 
them and I was not induced to depreciate the good 
that is in them. But I learned something more also 
about the Lutheran Church and was heartily in accord 
with what I learned. I was now called to be a Lu- 
theran pastor, and as a Lutheran I meant to be honest. 
Other denominations, while at least the better people 
among them appreciated this feature in my character, 
did not like its necessary consequences in my conduct. 
Some incidents, although they did not all occur in the 
earliest years of my ministry, may be related to show 
the difficulties under which I labored, but at the same 
time to impress the wisdom of strict adherence to the 
Lutheran Confession in building up Lutheran congre- 
gations. 

102 



&torp of S@g %ltt 



The spirit and method of my ministry was noised 
abroad, and especially the Methodists, who largely 
controlled the sentiment of the community, took um- 
brage at my honest work. Three miles south of Dela- 
ware there was a Methodist congregation at a small 
village called Stratford. One day a lady of my con- 
gregation who lived there came to my house with the 
information, that the preacher there had made a savage 
attack upon the Lutheran Church with the view of 
creating a prejudice against me and my congregation. 
A goodly number of our members lived in that vicinity 
and these he desired to win. The lady was a staunch 
and intelligent Lutheran, and had taken notes. These 
she gave me with the request to do what I could to 
counteract the prejudicial influence that had been ex- 
erted. I declared my readiness to preach at Stratford 
in reply to the attack made upon us, and requested her 
to have an appointment made at some appropriate place 
for the purpose. A few days later a delegation came 
from Stratford asking my consent to deliver my reply 
in the same church in which the attack was made and on 
my remarking that it hardly seemed possible to secure 
the Methodist Church for such a purpose, and that it 
would be of doubtful propriety to use it on such an 

occasion if it could be obtained, the answer was given 

103 



fetotg of $®t %iit 



that the church in question, though occupied by the 
Methodists, was built by the community with the ex- 
press understanding that it should be open to all de- 
nominations, and that they would claim it as a right 
that I should be permitted to preach there. I con- 
sented to leave the whole matter to them, and an 
appointment was made for me in the church. I 
promptly appeared at the appointed time and preached 
my sermon to an audience which crowded the house. 
Of course my purpose was to answer the charges made 
against the Lutheran Church and against me, as the 
pastor at Delaware. In the days of my youth I was 
perhaps more enthusiastic than was meet, but as I re- 
member the circumstances I confined myself to the sub- 
ject without any personal incriminations, except so far 
as persons were identified with the charges which I 
endeavored to refute. At the close of my sermon the 
pastor of the Methodist congregation at Stratford, who 
made the attack which I came to repulse, arose and 
politely asked me if I would grant him the privilege 
of saying a few words. In a kindly tone I replied that 
the discourse just delivered was my third for that day, 
and that my strength was so far exhausted that I 
could not undertake to speak much more, but that if 

what he desired to say would not compel me to answer, 

104 



Mot$ of ^$ %iti 



I had no objection. He then said that he only wished 
to make the statement that he had not made the charges 
which I refuted, but that he would reply to my sermon 
at a time which he would announce later. I said noth- 
ing more, but proceeded to dismiss the congregation 
when an excited gentleman, who, as I afterwards 
learned was a member of no church, rushed forward 
and begged me to hold the audience, as he and a num- 
ber of others present had heard the charges made and 
wished immediately to convict him of making them. 
I saw no propriety in turning the congregation into a 
court, and thinking his denial equal to a renunciation 
I believed my object to have been accomplished. The 
preacher never delivered his reply, but soon after left 
the place, and the Lutheran Church gained some pres- 
tige by the assault and its outcome. 

On another occasion a man who was not connected 
with any church came to me inquiring if I could furn- 
ish him with a Lutheran Catechism. Entering into 
conversation with him I found that a Methodist 
preacher, whose services he had been in the habit of 
attending, had ridiculed our Catechism, and had espe- 
cially referred to some doctrines alleged to be con- 
tained in it which he thought it improbable that an 
intelligent people would maintain. He wanted to be 

105 



fetorg of $®v %iit 



satisfied about it, and hence desired to possess the Cat- 
echism. I gave him the precious little book, explain- 
ing the points to which reference had been made, 
urged him to study the Catechism, and when conven- 
ient to call again. In a week or two he returned and 
stated some difficulties that he had found, but showed 
himself an honest seeker for the truth. He found it, 
and became a consistent member of our congregation. 
Numerous incidents occurred which rendered 
other ministers besides the pastor of the German Re- 
formed congregation unfriendly towards me. The at- 
tacks made upon us by others had the effect of calling 
attention to our work, and at our public services there 
was usually a goodly number who were members of 
other denominations. Proselyting was no part of my 
purpose. It is a sin of which I was never guilty. I 
wish others had respected the rights of other congre- 
gations and their pastors as I endeavored to do. Some- 
times strenuous efforts were made, especially during 
so-called revival seasons, to entice weaker members 
of my congregation into other churches. They were 
visited for this purpose, and the means employed to 
turn their hearts away from us were not always hon- 
orable. As I was impressed with the importance of 
pastoral visits, I usually appeared in the families in 

106 



fetotg of <9$g Eite 



time to counteract the insidious schemes of sectarian 
prowlers. The answer which I generally received, 
when I endeavored by appealing to the Scriptures to 
reach the consciences of these so-called "good men" 
engaged in bad work, was that their "field is the 
world." I was given to understand that my little 
parish was included in their big field, and that there- 
fore my remonstrance was groundless. I do not won- 
der that some of my brethren advocated the making 
of reprisals. Feeling is often stronger than faith, and 
I had about as much difficulty with my people in this 
respect as I had with our adversaries. The tide was 
in our favor, and I would no doubt have temporarily 
gained by pursuing the policy of our opponents. But 
I was intent upon building up the kingdom of Christ, 
whose adequate representation in the world I believed 
the Lutheran Church to be, and had faith enough to 
be assured that no wrong-doing could further that 
kingdom. I determined, therefore, to the best of my 
ability, to do the work assigned me and not to meddle 
with other people's business. In consequence, the plea 
that in self-defence I must go on proselyting expedi- 
tions was always resisted. But when people came to 
me seeking light, it was a different matter. I had no 

right to refuse the labor of love which I was requested 

107 



&tot# of S$p %iit 



to render, and my study was open to all, as well as the 
church in which I preached. In this way there was 
in the course of several years a goodly number of ac- 
cessions from other denominations to our congregation, 
mostly from the Reformed, the Methodist, and the 
Presbyterian churches, though here and there one even 
from the Romish church came to us. How the work 
was done a few examples may illustrate. I, of course, 
take such as are best impressed upon my memory, with- 
out regard to the order of time : 

A man of the Baptistic persuasion came frequently 
to hear me preach, but when the announcement was 
made that a catechetical class would be formed and 
that all who desired instruction in the plan of salva- 
tion were requested to attend, he shook his head, and 
subsequently expressed his aversion to what he called 
"head religion/' The class was formed and a respect- 
able number assembled for instruction. He shook his 
head again, and doubted whereunto this would grow. 
He was a man of middle age, and when it was sug- 
gested that he should once attend the catechization, he 
declared that he was not a boy who could be expected 
to go to school. Well, he might go once, and see how 
the school was conducted, and might then judge for 
himself. He came one day as a mere spectator, and 

1W 



fetorg oC $®v %\iz 



heard the instruction, and learned something. His 
railing against the Lutheran system became more mod- 
erate. He came again and listened attentively, and 
concluded that he had misjudged us. Then he had 
himself enrolled among the catechumens, rejoiced in 
the great salvation which the gospel teaches, was con- 
firmed, and remained a faithful member of the Luth- 
eran Church until his death many years after. 

An intelligent lady of the Presbyterian congrega- 
tion having heard me preach on the gospel for the 
Sunday after Easter, John 20, 19-31, called upon me 
next day and expressed a desire to learn something 
more on the topic of my sermon. She said that the 
doctrine of absolution which I had set forth was new 
to her, but that it was full of consolation, and that if 
it were true she desired to be sure of it, and wanted 
more light. Of course, I could not refuse to help her. 
What I had preached was simply the doctrine taught 
in our Catechism of the redemption effected by our 
Saviour of all men, of the provision made for distrib- 
uting the great salvation in Christ through the word 
of the gospel to all who are willing to hear it, and by 
hearing it receive power from on high to believe it, 
and thus to have it, without the deeds of the law, by 

grace alone. She thought it was too good to be true, 

109 



fet0£g of 9®y JLitt 



but, notwithstanding the doubt suggested by the self- 
righteousness of reason, confessed that it is what the 
Bible distinctly teaches. Asking me to lend her some 
books for further study she went her way rejoicing. 
One of these was Luther on the Sacraments, which I 
feared was meat too strong for her condition, but it 
was the best I had to help her in the line of her in- 
quiries. When she came again she assured me that 
that was the very book she needed to remove any 
lingering doubts. Every visit to me appeared to in- 
crease her interest in the Lutheran Church and its 
history and doctrines and work, until one day she told 
me that she was no longer a Presbyterian in her faith, 
but in every respect, so* far as she knew, a Lutheran, 
and that she felt it to be a duty to her Saviour to make 
this known, and to join us in the work of our congre- 
gation, asking me what she should now do to attain 
this end. As cases of a similar kind had occurred be- 
fore, I was required to reflect upon the proper course 
to pursue when members of other churches applied for 
membership in ours. In the little library which was 
in my possession there was not much to guide me. 
But the Bible and the knowledge of truth and right- 
eousness which I had attained, and the earnest purpose 

to do right and have a conscience void of offence to- 

110 



fetorg of $Bv %ttt 



ward God and man, were sufficient guide. If the 
hedge-priests who desired to steal sheep, from my 
flock had pursued an honest Christian course, my in- 
dignation would not have been aroused against them, 
as it sometimes was when I caught them in their un- 
godly tricks. It was an easy lesson to learn, if it was 
not so easy to practice, that what I wished others 
would do to me I ought to do to them. My decision 
was that our public services must be open to all, 
whether they were of our faith or another faith or no 
faith at all; that the pastor's personal application of 
the Word in absolution and ministration of grace in 
the sacraments must be limited to those who fulfill the 
conditions of membership in his congregation ; and 
that the pastor has all the rights and duties of the 
Christian priesthood in his private intercourse with 
people, his public office in no way interfering with 
private obligations. Accordingly I uniformly avoided 
visiting for religious purposes any families belonging 
to other churches, and persistently refused to do this 
even when invited, unless it was clear that their pastor 
desired it, or at least made no objection when they de- 
sired it. Meantime my house was always open when 
any person visited to consult me, whatever might be 

the nature of the subject. The lady in question had 

111 



fetctg ot 9pg %iU 



come often and I had no reason to send her away. But 
now, when she desired to become a member of our 
congregation, I thought it right that she should go to 
her pastor and tell him what she had done and what 
she proposed to do. Her pastor did not like me, and 
I knew that he would not speak kindly of me and of 
my labor on her behalf. I had before had a case of 
the same kind in which he was concerned. A young 
man of his congregation applied for membership in 
ours, and I sent him to his pastor with the remark that 
he must not sneak away from him like an evil doer 
with a bad conscience, but that he should deal frankly 
with him and give him all desired opportunity to exer- 
cise his office. This man afterwards reported to me 
that his pastor rebuked him for having dealings with 
such a bigot as he declared me to be, and then tried 
to convince him that we Lutherans teach false doc- 
trines, making a savage attack especially upon our doc- 
trine of the Lord's Supper. He had gone to him three 
times, and each time he had become more firm in his 
convictions that between his pastor and us it was a 
controversy of human reason and feeling against the 
Bible, so that he finally left with the declaration that 
he would not return for any further useless disputa- 
tions, but that he was now fully resolved to unite with 

113 



£>tot# of 9®V %itt 



the Lutheran Church, of which in due time he became 
an active and valued member. Remembering this, I 
was putting the lady to a severe test when I sent her 
to this pastor; but I had no doubt that she was well 
qualified to bear it and had no fear of the result. 

I think that in a clear conception of the plan of 
salvation she was his superior, and when she came to 
tell me the result of the interview with him I was not 
surprised that she was unshaken in her faith, had 
cheerfully renounced her connection with the Presby- 
terian church, and was ready for all that should yet 
be required for communion in our Lutheran congre- 
gation, of which she remained a steadfast member 
whose faith and love won the esteem of all. 

Our procedure was not the same in all the cases 
of applicants for membership who were in connection 
with other denominations. Of course, we could not 
receive them merely on their presentation of dismis- 
sals or certificates of membership. Such papers were 
valued only as assurances that the persons concerned 
were of good moral character and that their reception 
would not interfere with the laudable efforts of others 
to exercise scriptural Church discipline. An interview 
with such persons usually indicated what course should 

be pursued. Sometimes it was plain that the best way 
8 113 



fetorp of 9p» %itz 



was to induce them to -join the regular catechetical 
class; sometimes they were instructed in private and 
publicly confirmed when sufficiently advanced in the 
knowledge of the revealed truth; sometimes, when 
they already had such knowledge in a general way and 
needed only instruction in the points of difference be- 
tween their church and the Lutheran, they were re- 
ceived upon their public declaration that they believed 
the doctrines of Holy Scripture as set forth in our 
Catechism and the Augsburg Confession, renounced 
all errors of churches teaching otherwise, and desired 
henceforth to be known as Lutherans. In some in- 
stances applicants at first thought the terms were hard ; 
but as I desired to build up a Christian congregation 
of the Lutheran faith, believing this to be the pure 
faith of the Bible, not a society of nominal Christians 
without Christian unity, I insisted on the conditions, 
and usually with such success that they were recog- 
nized as indispensable under existing circumstances 
even by those who for a while hesitated. 

It was a trying position into which the Master 
placed me as His minister. The location of the Meth- 
odist university at Delaware made it a center of Meth- 
odist influence. I was but a stripling of 21 years of 

age when I came there in 1849, an( * was > as m Y nar " 

114 



fetot? ot Q®v %itt 



rative has shown, by no means a scholar capable of 
coping with learned professors. But for some reason 
I became a man of mark who was shot at from various 
quarters. I suppose that this was because I had a set- 
tled faith and meant to maintain it as pastor of the 
Lutheran congregation. Probably this was something 
unusual among Protestants in that community, as I 
am sure that it is something unusual in many a com- 
munity now. But whatever may have been the reason, 
I was on the way of becoming the leader of a "sect 
everywhere spoken against." In public and in private 
I was assailed. This was always on religious or eccle- 
siastical grounds, never, so far as I learned, with at- 
tacks on my moral character. The professors always, 
so far as I had intercourse with them, treated me cour- 
teously and even cordially; the pastors were never 
rude in my presence ; but I rarely met them except in 
the line of duty, and then it sometimes seemed that 
they were at least not generous in dealing with me. 
Lay members of other churches were at times not as 
polite as courtesy required, but in such cases the reason 
ordinarily was that they became unduly excited at my 
bold utterances in defense of the faith that was in me, 
for which, if I rightly remember my spiritual condi- 
tion, I was then ready to die at any moment. The 



115 



fetot» of S$# %itt 



controversies which I had with individuals served to 
strengthen my convictions. I became more and more 
impressed with the necessity of preaching the Word, 
in season and out of season, that the truth in Jesus 
might prevail and souls that were dying might be 
saved. The prevalent ignorance and irreverence with 
regard to the Bible horrified me. For instance, on one 
occasion I quoted a passage of Scripture to prove our 
doctrine in regard to Baptism, and received the re- 
sponse that that is a Lutheran lie, which the spirit in 
the hearts of truly converted Christians rejects; on 
another, speaking of the Lord's Supper and referring 
to an annotated Bible lying on the table, I was met 
with the remark that the text teaches the doctrine 
which I preach and confess, but the notes teach the 
contrary, which must be right; on another, in which 
case it was a Methodist professor with whom I was 
conversing, I received as a reply to the words of the 
Holy Ghost which I quoted word for word with the 
appended question, "why do you not accept the Word 
of God as it stands," the cold blooded answer, "because 
it does not accord with my experience." Such things 
startled me, but they could not otherwise than 
strengthen me in my purpose to stand by the Bible. 
These constant conflicts with people of other confes- 

116 



fetorp of S$p JLiit 



sions drove me to continuous study and made of me 
a more devoted student than ever, much as I had been 
devoted to study years before. The situation in which 
I was placed would have driven even a less enthusiastic 
inquirer to his books, and this not at all with the pur- 
pose of finding how reason answers reason in questions 
of religion, but how God's revelation recorded in the 
Bible answers reason darkened by sin. The hardness 
to which I was subjected was under God's merciful 
providence a blessing to me, and what was designed 
as a punishment proved a benefit to me and my con- 
gregation, which was struggling for existence under 
inauspicious circumstances. The opposition aroused 
against us helped both me and my people. 

It would be understood without mentioning it that 
my chief concern was about my own congregation. 
The troubles that others gave me were of material 
importance only so far as they affected my work as its 
pastor. The conditions were such as to encourage 
opponents in the expectation of creating disaffection 
and dissension among us, but on the whole my people 
stood by me with all the firmness that I could hope. 

The congregation, then numbering about 80 com- 
municant members, was composed mostly of Pennsyl- 
vania Germans, the foreign German element being 

117 



fetotg DC S£g %itt 



comparatively small. The older members had pre- 
served the traditions and sentiments of their former 
home, where the Lutherans and German Reformed 
usually built their churches jointly, worshiped together, 
frequently intermarried, and made so little distinction 
between them that they generally spoke of them as the 
"Lutheran side" and the "Reformed side" of the same 
church. That was the situation at Delaware. The 
two sides had chosen what seemed to me a very in- 
appropriate site in the outskirts of the town near the 
Olentangy River, and had built a house of worship 
which was a reproduction, on a small scale, of the barn- 
like structures called churches in Pennsylvania. It 
had no gallery; it was probably thought sufficiently 
capacious for the congregation without that. But its 
pulpit was just as lofty as if the gallery had been 
there, so that when, in the winter preceding my call, 
I ascended the pulpit for the first time I became dizzy 
and my nose bled, which was perhaps not astonishing 
in view of my enfeebled condition as a "pale faced 
boy." In this building I preached every two weeks, 
the alternate Sunday being used by the "Reformed 
side." The regular services were German, but even 
before I came there the need of English teaching and 
preaching had been recognized, and my predecessor 



118 



&torg of $$? Hilt 



had occasionally preached in English. When I came 
it was stipulated that there should be regular English 
preaching, and the arrangement was made that this 
should take place every Sunday when the church be- 
longed to our side, though the German should always 
have precedence. Accordingly on alternate Sundays, 
I preached twice, once in each language, the German 
always having the place of honor. On the alternate 
Sundays we had no rights and I had no duties in the 
church. It was agreed that every alternate Lord's 
Day I should preach at Prospect or, as it was then 
called, at Middletown. 

All these matters having been satisfactorily 
settled, I went to work. To the best of my ability 
Sunday after Sunday I preached the Gospel of the 
grace of God in Christ. As my faith was that which 
is confessed by the Lutheran Church, I preached the 
way of salvation according to the Scriptures, and I 
think now that I did it without much fear of enemies 
or endeavor to win friends, but with the purpose of 
making known the counsel of God to our salvation. 
This made it necessary that I should not ignore, but 
distinctly preach, the distinctive doctrines of the Lu- 
theran Church. How could I, being a believer myself 
&nd thinking daily of the account which I must soon 



&tot# ot 9$g Hitt 



render to the Master, do otherwise ? As I write now, 
more than fifty years after, when I have learned more 
and experienced more, I wonder how any Lutheran 
minister can do otherwise, as these distinctive doc- 
trines are vital in the plan of salvation which God in 
His infinite mercy has revealed in the Scriptures. 
But some doubted, and some even took offense. The 
consequent condition seems now like a dream to me. 
When it was shown what difference there is between 
us and the Reformed parties, whether Zwinglian or 
Calvinistic, and what our practice must be in regard 
to these parties, in regard to which the German Re- 
formed would make no exception, there were whis- 
perings around, there was outspoqken denunciation, 
there was a storm. My poor person became the object 
of many a caustic criticism. But these were mostly 
on the "Reformed side." The Lutherans rather liked 
my zeal, and in most cases, I succeeded in quieting 
them. But the Reformed did not belong to my charge, 
and only when one part of the family belonged to my 
congregation could I embrace the opportunity to in- 
terview them in private, and then my efforts to pla- 
cate them were not always successful. Their pastor 
was not at all in harmony with my work. He was 

zealous rather in the direction of revivalism after the 

120 



fetot? ot 9?g %iU 



Methodist fashion. His people were not generally in 
sympathy with him in that respect, and though he 
railed against us and especially against me, whom he 
designated, on account of my youth, by an uncompli- 
mentary name, he had little success in the war which 
he waged against me. He was soon compelled to 
leave. His successor was a man who minded his own 
business, in his own easy-going way, and made us no 
trouble. The ugly epithets which were flung at me 
never even ruffled me to any crippling extent, much 
less could they induce me to violate my conscience by 
changing my course. A remark made by a friend in 
Cleveland, who had gone through a similar experience 
as pastor there, who was always cheerful, and whom 
I asked how he maintained his cheerfulness under the 
persecutions he was enduring, said that every time a 
handful of mud was flung at him, he ran to the Lord 
and received new grace, and prayed for his enemies 
who knew not what they did, and went on with his 
work smiling. This man of God belonged to the Mis- 
souri Synod, with which ours was not on good terms ; 
but I had not imbibed any prejudice against the body 
to which he belonged, and our similar conflicts ren- 
dered us sympathetic, while his superior theological 
equipment and larger experience made him a most 



121 



&targ of 9pg JLiiz 



valued friend. Dear Dr. Schwan, even the fierce pre- 
destinarian controversy which came a quarter of 
a century later, could not sever the ties of friendship, 
based on a common faith and mutual sympathy in the 
suffering entailed by its confession. Even in my 
latest affliction, which seems to have ended the direct 
work of my calling in any official capacity, he did not 
forget me, though he, the older man by a good many 
years, had for some years before retired and been 
honored by the well-deserved continuance of his salary 
by the Synod which he served so long and so well. 
But this is simply by the way. God gave me the grace 
of a quiet conscience, and I was not discouraged even 
when unkindly disposed persons did their worst. En- 
couragement came too from unexpected sources. As 
an instance, I may mention the circumstance that one 
day, when the Reformed party was wildest in its op- 
position to me and my work, a farmer, who was a 
prominent member in my congregation, stopped me 
as I was riding by on my pastoral visits, and asked 
me if I knew that my opponents had resolved to starve 
me out and thus get rid of me by compulsory measures. 
I had not heard of the scheme, but told him that, as I 
was an unmarried man and did not need much to keep 
me alive, the scheme did not seem to me dangerous. 



fetotp of ®$y JLite 



He then said, in a serious tone, that he had a good 
farm and a well-supplied table, and that if the time 
ever came when I should be in want of bread, his 
home would always be open to me, and I should come 
and live with him without the least fear that the addi- 
tion of one more to his family would at all embarrass 
him. As the wife of this man belonged to the "Re- 
formed side," who soon moved over to the "Lutheran 
side," I saw how little ground there was of harboring 
any littleness of faith in regard to my subsistence. I 
was not starved out, and God gave me grace to fear 
nothing of the kind. In the contest the Reformed 
party kept constantly losing and the Lutheran gaining 
ground. 

At a business meeting of my congregation in this 
time of unpleasant relations, I called attention to the 
dilapidated condition of the fence around our church 
lot, which was on the corner of the street, and sug- 
gested the need of repairing it. The proposition was 
opposed from an unexpected quarter, as well as from 
a source whence I had counted on opposition. One 
of the richest men in the congregation, who usually 
took a prominent part in all its meetings, but who had 
the reputation of being also one of the stingiest, made 
a speech against it. He argued that the improvement 



123 



fetorg of Stpp %iU 



would cost a sum beyond our ability, possibly as much 
as seventy-five dollars; that the "Reformed side" had 
taken no action in the matter and probably in its pres- 
ent mood would do nothing ; and that if we undertook 
such a weighty enterprise we were in danger of de- 
stroying our work in Delaware. He was known to be 
in sympathy with our opponents without being in open 
hostility to me and my preaching and practice. Some 
of the Lutheran members became impatient and de- 
clared that they were ashamed of the tumble-down 
condition of our property; that they were abundantly 
able to keep it looking decent, even if the Reformed 
were unwilling to pay their share ; and that they were 
tired of being hammered by the Reformed party and 
of carrying the burden of two congregations when 
their duty and interests were only in one. Then my 
time had come. I showed why it would be difficult 
under existing conditions to raise seventy-five dollars 
for the proposed improvement, when the other party 
would invest nothing, but claim half the property; 
and if we could not, hampered and hindered as we 
were, collect the small sum mentioned, we cer- 
tainly could raise several thousand to secure a church 
for ourselves and be free from the dictation and an- 
noyance and injustice of others. 

124 




St. Mark's Ev. Luth. Church, Delaware, Ohio. 



fetorg of 9£p %iit 



The spark kindled; instead of agreeing to build 
the fence, it was resolved to separate and secure a 
property of our own. Negotiations began by offering 
to buy the Reformed share in the church which we 
occupied or to sell ours. The offer was rejected. We 
next proposed to accept a specified sum for our share 
in the property or to pay the same sum for the Re- 
formed share. This offer too was rejected. We 
proposed to have the matter arbitrated, and agreed to 
abide by any reasonable decision. Again the offer 
was rejected. We were nonplussed. We saw no 
remedy but an appeal to the courts. The process there 
is slow, and one of our members concluded to hasten 
matters by purchasing a lot which was thought well 
located for a new church. Our people could not await 
the dilatory decision of the courts, but determined to 
accept the lot which had been bought and proceed to 
build, determining rather to leave all that had been 
invested in the old building than continue in a part- 
nership that had become so painful. When our plans 
were prepared, our contracts were let, and our church 
was under construction. The Reformed, seeing that 
we meant business, made us an offer that was easily 
accepted. The suit at law was withdrawn and we 
could breathe more freely. Our church, built of lime- 

125 



htoty of 9$v &Ht 



stone, was in those days thought a beautiful structure, 
and our joy was according to the joy of harvest, when 
on Christmas Day 1853, we could dedicate it to the 
service of the Triune God. It is the same church in 
which the congregation still worships, though some 
material improvements have been made since then. I 
now had better facilities to do my work and the con- 
gregation prospered. 

The difficulties which I encountered at the start 
were gradually overcome, and there were few in the 
congregation, when we entered the new church, who 
expressed dissatisfaction with our strict Lutheran 
practice. Perhaps that was the severest trial of our 
faith which came when one of the most prominent and 
most generally esteemed members of the faculty of 
Wesleyan University presented himself for communion 
at our altar, and I declined to administer it to him. 
The matter is sometimes talked about even to this day, 
when Lutheranism is put on trial in Delaware; but 
now, after fifty years of study and prayer and exper- 
ience, I have no word of repentance to express. To 
all whom it may concern, I have only the assurance 
to give that, under the same circumstances, I would 
now do the same thing, as I now think my action the 
extreme of charity in a case of trial. I never for a 

126 



&tot# of 9®v %itt 



moment supposed, as some of our people were inclined 
to think, that the occurrence originated in a scheme to 
try my mettle with a view of breaking down my in- 
fluence, either by raising hostility against me if I proved 
consistent, or by showing my faith to be an unloving 
and illiberal sham, if a severe test should drive me 
into an act which would be inconsistent with my per- 
sonal profession and my ministerial teaching. He was 
too good a man to engage in any such unworthy trick- 
ery, and I still think that any such opinions of the man 
do him a great wrong. His error was that into which 
any unionist may fall without the least impeachment 
of his sincerity. He no doubt desired simply to mani- 
fest his sympathy with us in our Christian work, and 
I appreciated that. But I knew him to be a Methodist 
by profession, and had no reason to think that the 
sermon which he had heard was sufficient to convince 
him of his Methodist errors, or that his desire to com- 
mune with us was sufficient evidence of his conversion. 
Looking at the occurrence now, after so many years, I 
magnify the grace of God which led me to so charitable 
a solution of the problem that was so suddenly sprung 
upon me. I simply asked him if he was prepared to 
accept the words with which I administered the body of 
Christ to the communicants as the very truth of God, 

127 



^>tot# ot 9®V %iit 



and he declared that he was not. That was the very 
least that I, as the minister of the Lord could ask, and 
upon his refusal to accept the very words of the Master, 
there was nothing left for me, but to pass him by. 
Thanks be to God that in the fiery trial He gave me 
grace to be faithful. On the following day I wrote 
to the professor explaining the matter more fully, as 
I could not when the event occurred. He sent me a 
courteous reply in which he expressed his dissent from 
my views, but complimented me upon my having the 
courage of my convictions. Of course the sad affair 
was much talked about throughout the town and 
vicinity. Denunciations of my course were abundant, 
occasional defences were uttered, and a great deal 
of free advertising was given me and my congregation. 
I felt that the crisis had come, and that if my con- 
gregation would stand by me now the victory was as- 
sured. No disturbance appeared in our congregational 
life ; all went on as usual, and God made all things work 
for our good. 

Not long after this trial the professor in question 
invited me to his house to meet a number of ministers 
for a social gathering on a certain evening. My 
thoughts were, of course, that my church practice in 

general and my conduct in the case which had created 

128 



&tot» of 9®v %itt 



the town talk in particular would be the subject of com- 
ment and critcism; but as my invitation to the meet- 
ing impressed me as the result of a disposition to be 
fair and not to condemn me without a hearing, I went. 
All the clergy of the town were present except the 
Romish priest, who probably was not invited. We had 
a social talk, which was not unpleasant; we had tea 
and cake, which was pleasant ; and as it was growing 
late I felt easier and concluded that my suspicions with 
reference to the object in view were unfounded. Prob- 
ably in regard to my person they were. But when the 
time for adjournment came our host arose and stated 
that he had a special object in view when he invited 
us to his house ; that he had noticed a lack of fraternal 
intercourse among the pastors and people of the differ- 
ent churches in Delaware ; that he felt the want of such 
fellowship among Christians, though they were of 
different denominations ; and that he hoped some way 
could be found by which a more cordial relation could 
be effected among us through Christian association. 
The sentiment was received with approbation, and 
different ways were suggested by which the object 
could be attained. The concurrent opinion seemed to 
settle upon the plan of having union meetings in turn, 
in the various churches, for prayer and the interchange 



9 129 



feiotg of Spg %iit 



of thought and feeling. As this was in conflict with 
my convictions of right and duty, I modestly made a 
statement to this effect and proposed to withdraw, so 
as not to disturb the harmony which prevailed among 
them. But some insisted that I should give a reason 
for such a withdrawal. Recognizing the propriety of 
this, I frankly stated that I, as a Lutheran pastor, was 
not in harmony with the sentiment prevalent among 
them as regards the relations of different churches to 
each other, that I was called to a work for the right 
conduct of which I must render account, and that 
others were not responsible for it and I could not be 
faithful if I permitted others to interfere, especially 
as in some important respects they held different be- 
liefs ; and that I had in my own charge as much work 
and responsibility as I felt able to carry, and could 
not with a good conscience assume any of theirs ; that, 
in short, it was my settled conviction, the unhappy 
division into different churches being upon us and the 
remedy for the evil manifestly not lying in a vain 
attempt to ignore existing conditions, that it would be 
best for all of us, if each would strive to fulfill his 
calling in the place assigned him, without meddling 
with other men's matters. My confession was deliv- 
ered in a tone of kindness, and when I sat down I felt 

130 



&tot» of 9®V JLitt 



that I had discharged a duty, whatever the conse- 
quences might be. There was silence for a few mo- 
ments, but it seemed long and even ominous. This 
was broken by Dr. Thomson, the President of the Uni- 
versity, who rarely had much to say unless the occa- 
sion demanded it, and who was known in the commu- 
nity as a man who was bent upon minding his own 
business and urging others to mind theirs. As such a 
man I had learned to esteem him. But the remem- 
brance of the recent event, which I feared was the ulti- 
mate ground of our gathering, caused a little flutter in 
my soul. Such an antagonist it would have been an 
ordeal to meet, although now, after fifty years more of 
experience in the ways of God, I do not doubt that 
grace would have been given me to bear it without 
damage to the cause of truth. But his address was in 
substance commendatory of my position, declaring that 
in principle I was right, and that all sound philosophy 
and true religion were on my side. Of course this 
secured me against any assaults which might have been 
brooding and the consultation about means of getting 
us together took a new turn. It was finally resolved 
to appoint a committee, of whom I should be one, to 
consult about the matter and report at another meet- 
ing that was agreed upon. The committee met and 

131 



fetotg of 9®y %iti 



reported. So far as I was concerned, that was the end 
of it. But there was another meeting after that. I 
think our report was virtually the conclusion of the 
whole matter, and I would so have considered it, had 
not a casual occurrence rendered this dubious. One 
day the Methodist presiding elder of the Delaware 
District in a rather jovial mood accosted me on the 
street with the remark, "Well, Brother Loy, you were 
not at our United States Prayer Meeting last night ?" 
Upon my professing ignorance of such a meeting and 
innocence of all implications with it and its kind, he 
declared that I was right and that the very devil was 
behind such movements. So far as I was implicated 
in the matter there were no further results. 

All my intercourse with people with other churches 
only tended to confirm me in my conviction, that the 
Lutheran Church is right in its confession and prac- 
tice, and that pastors and people of other denomina- 
tions are lacking in that assurance and peace which 
the Lutheran Church proclaims and conveys, and gives 
to them that believe. 

Every second Sunday, when the Reformed occu- 
pied our church at Delaware, my call required me to 
preach at what was then called Middletown, thirteen 

miles distant. The conditions there were similar to 

132 



fetotp ot 9£g %ite 



those at Delaware. Some members of the Lutheran 
Church had come there from Pennsylvania, chief 
among whom was the family of Chr. Gast, who laid 
out the village of Middletown, and one of whose sons 
subsequently became an efficient minister of the Luth- 
eran Church and died as pastor of the Middletown 
charge. Mr. Gast was a man of more than ordinary 
energy. With the help of his brother and a few other 
Lutherans he had succeeded in having regular services 
conducted by the pastor at Delaware. In laying out 
the town he had also reserved one of the best lots for 
a church, and before I came there the frame of a 
building for that purpose had already been erected, 
although for some reason, probably from lack of funds, 
the building had been abandoned. I preached in a lit- 
tle school house, and my first effort was made under 
difficulties. The service was German, and I had writ- 
ten out my sermon with the intention of reading it, 
which I unwisely thought would be tolerated in a be- 
ginner. The school house was crowded up to the lit- 
tle table where I scarcely had room to stand. If I had 
laid my manuscript on the table, which seemed to me 
unusually low, the people sitting close by could have 
read it, but I could have accomplished the feat only by 
bending over it or sitting down. Of course I was em- 

133 



&totp of 9pg %itt 



barrassed. In my perplexity, I determined to do what 
I could without the manuscript. When I was ready 
to open the service, I found that there was no Bible at 
hand. No doubt the people thought that I would 
furnish all the books that would be needed. This, too, 
was embarrassing. Rev. P. Gast, who was at the time 
visiting his parents, was present and I requested him 
to conduct the worship while I endeavored to collect 
my thoughts for the sermon. This helped me a little, 
though his presence tended to increase my confusion. 
When the messenger who had been sent for the Bible 
returned wtih only the New Testament, I was dis- 
mayed. I had chosen a free text, and that was in the 
Old . Testament. In my flurry I could not repeat it 
from memory and could think of nothing better to do 
in my extremity than to select another text and trust 
in God for the result of my effort. I had had some 
experience in extemporaneous speaking at the Sem- 
inary, and the necessity seemed laid upon me of using 
such gift as I possessed. God did not forsake me. I 
preached, the people appeared to be satisfied, and Pas- 
tor Gast allayed my fears by assuring me that my ser- 
mon was not a rambling mass of confusion. And I 
learned something that was worth learning. 

There were at Middletown also a few families be-. 
134 



©tot? ot m Mtite 



longing to the German Reformed Church, and these 
had joined with the Lutherans in the project of erect- 
ing a house of worship on the lot donated for the pur- 
pose without denominational restrictions. The Re- 
formed pastor at Delaware used his alternate Sundays 
to serve these people, and in this regard they were as 
well supplied as the Lutherans. When, after I had 
preached there for a while, the school house was seen 
to be entirely too small and the thought of finishing the 
building which had been begun was revived, the 
trouble with the Reformed began and became as ex- 
citing as it was at Delaware. They had put some 
money into the building, and insisted that they must 
have equal rights in it, if it were finished. Evidently 
it was the same case as had so often occurred, that the 
Lutherans were expected to furnish the funds, and the 
Reformed must be entitled to an equal share of the 
benefit. In the present case my contention, that each 
church should have its own home and not allow itself 
to be hampered in its judgments and desires by co- 
partnership with others, whose wishes and purposes 
would naturally be different, had much opposition to 
overcome. The principal members of our congrega- 
tion had come from Pennsylvania and were accus- 
tomed to union with the Reformed. Indeed, some of 

135 



fetotp ot $®v %iit 



both churches had come from the same place and had 
worshiped together in the same building. Moreover, 
some of the chief members of both parties were in- 
termarried and in consequence households were 
divided. My predecessors, too, had never lifted their 
voices against the union, if they had not directly fos- 
tered it. The most active and the most influential 
members of my congregation were married to members 
of the Reformed Church. This made my situation 
difficult. 

But Bro. C. Gast, who had donated the lot, and 
who was by far the strongest man in the settlement, 
of sturdy sense and stalwart Lutheran convictions, 
stood by me and helped me much. His wife was Re- 
formed, but all his children were Lutherans. His 
brother's wife was Reformed, but his children were 
also Lutherans. His sister, who was a Lutheran, was 
also married to a member of the Reformed Church, 
who was not in harmony with me and my work, but 
who was not a man of great force in the community. 
The conditions were in my favor. In the progress of 
my work the wives of the brothers Gast united with our 
congregation, the children of the families were mem- 
bers, and we had with us not only the larger number, 

136 



&t0tg ot Q$v %ite 



but also the more intelligent and the more active peo- 
ple of the two churches. 

This is not saying that all moved along without 
friction and with even pace. Our people were union- 
ists by habit, and unionism is generally not overcome 
without a struggle. It came to the surface in the early 
stages of my work even in a more threatening form 
than it had appeared in Delaware. On the day of our 
preparatory service for the second communion which I 
administered during my pastorate in the congregation, 
a leading member thought it his duty to remind me 
that at the former communion I had not invited mem- 
bers in good standing of other denominations to par- 
take of the Holy Supper with us. I replied that it was 
not an oversight on my part, but that the omission 
was intentional, because I thought the practice wrong 
and I could not adopt it. He replied that our consti- 
tution required it and the congregation expected me to 
conform to the custom. I had not noticed such an 
article in the constitution, else it would have been 
brought up for consideration before, and now I could 
see no better course than to call a meeting of the vot- 
ing members at once and have the matter settled be- 
fore administering the sacrament. I then told the 
brethren my trouble, assuring them that I had no dis- 

137 



fetotg of $®v %iit 



position to override their rules and take the govern- 
ment into my own hands, but that I must be faithful to 
Christ and the Church as bound by His Word, and 
could not obey a rule inviting to promiscuous com- 
munion, since this would conflict with our confession, 
break down our scriptural discipline, and accord to 
members of other denominations what we cannot ac- 
cord our own, thus in a false liberalism and feigned 
charity discriminating in favor of sectarians against 
our own church. The subject was too large and too 
important to be fully presented and discussed in the 
short time then at our disposal, but it was plain that 
some action was necessary, as I could not act as pastor 
under a rule that burdened my conscience. Two ways 
were open to remove the difficulty: Either I should 
be released from the call which I had accepted, or from 
the requirement which was oppressive and deprived 
me of all desire to continue my work. The congrega- 
tion was astonished at the turn matters had taken when 
all seemed prosperous, and was in no mood even to 
think of dismissing me so summarily. With a una- 
nimity that was cheering to me the stumbling block 
was removed, so that I could conduct my office with- 
out unionistic interferences. Occasionally it became 

apparent that the leaven had not been wholly purged 

138 



Mot$ of Spg Eff? 



out. Unionism always dies hard, and even when it is 
eradicated in individuals by the power of divine truth, 
it still continues to work in the community and to in- 
fect our people. It is one of the travesties of liberty 
and love that will never cease to afflict Christians. 

The church building in Prospect was completed 
and our services were held there. This was a great 
improvement upon our former cramped facilities. We 
could now look forward to a better organization of our 
forces. But the Reformed claimed one-half of our 
property, since they had collected some money in 
Pennsylvania and had contributed something them- 
selves towards the building. The whole cost of the 
frame building which we occupied at present rates of 
estimate was very small, and the proportion which the 
Reformed contingent had furnished was even ridicu- 
lously small. But they, few as they were and little 
as they had contributed, insisted on their claim. Thus 
we were forbidden the use of the building on alternate 
Sundays, which belonged to the "Reformed side." 
This crippled us without doing them any good, except 
so far as the reservation of every two weeks for their 
service was concerned. Their urgency of an unjust 
claim helped me. Those who were not fully convinced 
by my pleas for liberty to build up the Lutheran 



139 



fetotg ot ^ %itt 



Church according to its own principles and life, were 
convinced that we should not yield to claims which con- 
flicted with natural rights. And so the war at Pros- 
pect was but an extension and continuance of the war 
at Delaware. The question of property rights was 
nearly the same, and although I was thirteen miles 
away and could not exert the same personal influence 
on many of the members as I had the opportunity of 
doing at Delaware, where I lived, the sense of right 
was a power among my people ; and the foe could not 
even prevail against that, much less against the power 
of truth, on which the kingdom of our Lord is estab- 
lished. The work grew in Prospect and the more it 
grew and the more my suggestion that it should in due 
time become an independent parish found acceptance, 
the more the Lutherans felt hampered by their unhappy 
league with the Reformed, which gave us the use of the 
church only half the time. The storm became more 
and more threatening. 

One Sunday morning, as I rode into the village 
to do my work, one of the members of my congregation, 
who was the son of the original founder of the town 
and a solid defender of our cause, met me with a broad 
smile and told me that he had good news to impart. I 

am not aware that I ever gave cause to suspect that I 

140 




Old Church, Prospect, Ohio. 



fetorg ot S@» %itt 



would be glad if I were free from all property encum- 
brances, so that we could do our work of faith without 
such entanglements. But no doubt our people sur- 
mised my thoughts and feelings. Bro. Gast was right 
in presuming that which he had to communicate was 
good news to me. He informed me that on the pre- 
ceding night our church had burned down, and that we 
were now free to do our own work in our own way, 
without having others to meddle with our business. I 
rejoiced with him, and thought with him that the seem- 
ing loss was all gain. He proposed to buy the property 
now with the building in ruins, and secure all our 
rights, as a congregation, without involving us in any 
suits at law, as he meant to assume all responsibility. 
This was accordingly done, and we were free to begin 
anew. By this time my people had lost all longing for 
joint ownership of church property with another de- 
nomination, and preparations were at once made to 
build a church of our own. A lot was secured, and in 
a few months we had a neat brick house of worship 
which we could arrange to suit ourselves and use as 
frequently as our growing work required. 

There were other denominations represented in 
Prospect besides the Lutheran and Reformed, and not 
a little jealousy existed. The Methodists had the 

141 



fetor? Pt SSpg %ttt 



largest number of members, but they were divided, the 
Episcopal and the Protestant Methodists each having 
a church of its own and interfering much with each 
other's work by their separate protracted meetings. 
Sometimes the one, sometimes the other would be in 
the lead, as the "conversions" reported were largely 
from each other. Once at a big revival the entire 
membership of the "Radicals" was said to have been 
"converted" ; at any rate their church was closed. The 
Baptists also had a considerable following, and their 
minister was a bold, aggressive leader. The wild 
methods of these sects did not commend themselves 
strongly to the judgments and hearts of our Lutheran 
people, and all their jealous proselyting failed to 
make much impression on them or in any serious way 
to injure our work. To the principal members of my 
flock the fanatical proceeding of these sects was pos- 
itively repulsive. 

Though I had little to do with these other churches 
or their preachers, not only because their condition and 
work did not come within the scope of my vocation, 
but also because my duties, whenever I visited the vil- 
lage, fully occupied my time, a circumstance occurred 
which brought me into undeserved prominence among 
them. One Sunday, when I preached on the subject 

142 



fetorg of mv mtt 



of Baptism, the ever-busy Baptist preacher, in accor- 
dance with the reputation which he had for bold 
aggressiveness, asked permission to say a few words. 
I had heard that he had challenged two ministers of the 
place to a debate on the subject of that sacrament, and 
that both had declined to meet him, in consequence of 
which he was elated to heroic daring. It seemed to me 
prudent, under restrictions necessary to prevent dis- 
turbance, to grant him the privilege. Agreeing to the 
conditions stated, he asked me where a Word of God 
which I had used was to be found in the Scriptures. 
Happily I could turn without any delay to chapter and 
verse, which I did, reading it in its context with 
emphasis, but without comment. He then asked me 
if I would meet him in debate on the whole subject of 
Baptism, to which I answered unhesitatingly, Yes. 
All was then quiet and the services were closed as 
usual. 

But it was not so quiet when the people were once 
outside of the church. They were not slow in express- 
ing their opinion, in which the incident at the close was 
more conspicuous than the sermon. The community, 
which was well represented at our service, including a 
fair sprinkling of Baptists, was generally in my favor, 
and what was more to me, my congregation was unani-. 

143 



&tot# 0( 9®v JLitt 



mous in approval of my sermon and my conduct in 
dealing with the pugnacious Baptist minister. 

It is questionable whether public debates on relig- 
ious subjects are conducive to the interests of Christ's 
Kingdom. There is usually so much of carnal thought 
and prejudice and sentiment associated with them, that 
the profit which might otherwise result is overborne 
by the incidental evils. But the conditions were such 
in this case that refusal to meet my antagonist would 
be productive of damage to the cause in which I was 
engaged, and as I think of it now I still approve my 
decision, the more so as I saw a good opportunity to 
bear testimony to a great truth which the members of 
some denominations had probably never heard. Ar- 
rangements were accordingly made for the debate. It 
was my desire that it should be held in the Baptist 
Church, which was the largest in the village. The 
other matters were easily agreed on. The discussion 
should last three days, with two sessions of three hours 
each day. The speakers to alternate every half hour. 
The topics decided on were the nature, the subjects, and 
the mode of Baptism, to each of which one day was 
to be devoted, six addresses of half an hour's length 
being allotted to each of the speakers. A moderator 
for each of the parties was chosen with a chief moder- 

144 



fetotg o£ 9£g %itt 



ator, who should preside. It was well arranged and 
no difficulties of a formal kind occurred. As far as 
I was concerned the moderating was all satisfactory, 
and the only thing that ruffled me proceeded from our 
own quarters. Whether wisely or unwisely under such 
circumstances, we had appointed a meeting for worship 
on an evening during the debate, and I requested a good 
brother, who was a zealous Lutheran, to preach the 
sermon. He was a good preacher, and although I 
knew that he was eccentric, I thought his decided 
Lutheranism would serve our cause. Knowing him 
and knowing his failing, I admonished him, in view of 
the prevailing excitement and the need of a restful and 
soothing Gospel sermon after a day spent in contro- 
versy, that his discourse should be brief and free from 
all polemics, that we might have an evening of peace 
and prayer under the benediction of our present Lord. 
He preached a sermon which under some cicumstances 
would have been pronounced good, but whose inap- 
propriateness at such a time and place rendered it a 
painful performance. After I waited long, and as 
patiently as the unhappy situation permitted, for the 
close, he announced his second part. The large au- 
dience was weary and becoming more and more restless, 

as the ordinary length of a sermon had already been 
10 145 



fetorp ot 9®t Eife 



exceeded. What I then did was not a very polite 
thing, as I was well aware, but it was the best that 
occurred to me in my distress. As I occupied a seat 
near the pulpit stairs I quietly shifted my position to 
a higher seat on the pulpit, which probably would have 
attracted little attention, and made a sign to him that 
it was growing late. He took offense at my action, at 
once closed the Bible and, remarking that he had "re- 
ceived notice to quit," left the service in my hands. I 
said nothing, but closed in the usual form, and the 
congregation was dismissed as if nothing unusual had 
happened. Next morning my eccentric friend left for 
his home before breakfast, and without bidding me 
good-bye. So far as I know, however, he never 
allowed his discomfiture to banish me from the circle 
of his friends ; for on occasions of trouble afterwards 
he appealed to me for advice. I cannot refrain from 
remarking, in recording the incident, that advice in 
such cases is usually fruitless when a person is in- 
capable of discrimination. My friend was unsuccess- 
ful as a minister, and finally abandoned the calling. 

I was disturbed by the untoward event, but so far 
as reports came to my ears the unhappy incident, so 
far as it made any impression, worked only in my favor. 

The debate went on without any reference to the in- 

146 



£>t0tg o£ 9$g %itt 



terlude, which was so painful to me. Of course I made 
no allusion to it, much as it depressed me. God in His 
infinite mercy gave me grace to ignore the circum- 
stances which might have proved injurious to the cause 
which I advocated. Even my physical infirmity, which 
frequently came upon me and which came with increas- 
ing force under the excitement which the disputation 
caused, was never mentioned, except in the closing 
address, when it seemed necessary as an apology, not 
for the doctrine for which I contended, but for the 
feebleness on my part in the contention. 

The event was a notable one in the history of Pros- 
pect at the time, small as its influence may have been in 
the subsequent life of the community. It is now, half 
a century later, almost forgotten. But little good as 
generally results from public debates on religious 
subjects, it helped me in my work. My adversary was 
strong only in matters of indifference ; in the essential 
matters of the divine purpose in the institution of holy 
Baptism he was pitifully weak. The community saw 
his inability to appreciate the teaching of Scripture 
regarding the import and purpose of the holy sacra- 
ment, and his written presentation which took little 
account of the words of our Lord and His apostles in 
this regard, and which was wholly inadequate to meet 

147 



htotv of 9$V %iU 



my presentation of the Lutheran doctrine, put him at 
a disadvantage from the start, and he could not recover 
from this when we came to the points where his Bap- 
tistic theories made it possible to appeal with some hope 
of success to the natural mind. At any rate our work 
went on without the least disturbance, while our Bap- 
tistic friend became less aggressive and soon after 
abandoned the field. Whether the Baptist congrega- 
tion still exists in Prospect I do not know, but I do 
know that the Lutheran Church still flourishes there 
and, with its new and larger building, is a power in 
the community. 

My first year as pastor at Delaware confined me 
to that congregation for service every two weeks. The 
alternate Sunday was thus free, though it w r as fully 
understood that I should devote it to the congregation 
at Prospect to the extent of preaching there every 
second Sunday. Before the first year of my ministry 
was ended a delegation came to me from Norton, nine 
miles north of Delaware, requesting me to preach there. 
The brethren presenting the petition informed me that 
there were some Lutherans there who desired the means 
of grace, and that they desired me to come and admin- 
ister them. To urge their suit they assured me that 
former Lutheran pastors at Delaware had performed 

148 



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ministerial functions there; that Rev. Pope and Rev. 
Kline before him had officiated there; and that there 
were Lutherans there who were hungering for the 
bread of life. I was won by the appeal, and agreed 
to come, appointing a time to meet the Lutherans 
at a given place. I came and met them. They re- 
ported that for some years past the Lutheran minister 
at Delaware had preached there; that no organization 
had been formed ; but that the people had paid him for 
his services and all denominations united in contribut- 
ing for the purpose. I told them that my interest was 
in the Lutheran Church ; and that all my labors could 
only tend to build up the kingdom of God as repre- 
sented by the Lutheran Reformation with its glorious 
Confession, and that probably my advent in such a field 
would result in dissensions. The little experience 
which I had gathered in my ministry thus far induced 
me to think that candor required such a statement, 
that there might be no misunderstandings and that no 
false hopes might be engendered. One meeting was 
at the house of Mr. John Coleman, who was a sturdy 
old Pennsylvanian, whose Lutheranism had become 
sounder and deeper through the influence of his de- 
vout Swabian wife, who remembered the catechism 

which she had been taught and the pious life of 

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fetotg ot 9®v %\iz 



her old German home. To the doubt which I ex- 
pressed whether my coming would not result only 
in contentions among neighbors without any real 
good for the Church, this family especially made 
replies which rebuked my littleness of faith and en- 
couraged me to make an appointment for public 
worship at the school-house, where all such religious 
services had been held in the past. I came at the 
appointed hour and preached a sermon with which 
no fault was found. The trouble came after the ser- 
mon. The same conviction which induced me to make 
a confession at the preliminary meeting at a private 
house, induced me to make a similar statement at this 
public meeting. The wisdom of this may be debatable ; 
but now, after more than half a century of experience 
of my own and of observation of the experience of 
others, I still maintain the same ground, though I 
have since learned much and thought much on the 
subject. I honestly confessed my purpose to organize 
those who were of the Lutheran faith into a congre- 
gation that would confess this faith, and in this spirit 
to continue my work. Accordingly I made an appoint- 
ment for another service, coupled with the special in- 
vitation that all Lutherans should meet me in consul- 
tation after the services. Then the war began. Right 

150 



fetorp oC S£g %itt 



and left, after the benediction was pronounced, the ex- 
cited multitude assailed me. Even now as I think of it, 
the wonders of God's grace crowd on me in stupendous 
majesty. From all sides, sectarians, led by the Re- 
formed, who were accustomed to have equal rights with 
the Lutherans, stormed against me. I do not remem- 
ber all that they threatened me with, while I made my 
impeded progress from the school-house to my horse, 
which finally bore me away from the unruly crowd. At 
the appointed time I came again, and preached the 
Gospel of God's grace to sinful men. Again the school- 
house was crowded, but the zeal of our opponents 
had spent its main force, and we were permitted to 
have a consultation without much disturbance. About 
half a dozen Lutheran families were ready to organize 
a Lutheran congregation, while a few more of mixed 
families, and another few who had become indifferent, 
presented a prospect of future increase. I continued 
my appointments for service every second Sunday 
afternoon, and although the opposition was strong and 
often bitter, the interest in our work grew. A good 
Lutheran constitution was adopted, although some of 
our own people hesitated about forming so exclusive an 
organization, until their scruples, which were found to 
be of a pecuniary sort, were removed. They were con- 

151 



fetotp of S$P %itt 



cerned about my support, and at a meeting declared 
that, with the loss of the contributions from members 
of other denominations and casual donations from citi- 
zens of no religious profession, they could promise 
me no respectable salary. Fortunately I was in a 
condition to meet that emergency. The $250 sub- 
scribed for my support had met my wants until now. 
My purpose to do the Lord's work had thus far suffered 
no interference by any lack of necessaries. Probably 
my income was more than that, but I cared only that 
daily bread was furnished to an honest workman, and 
I never had trouble on that account. My salary was 
sufficient for my needs, and I was content. Therefore 
when my friends at Norton presented the money 
matter as an impediment in the way of success, God 
in His goodness made me ready to remove it. I 
declared that I had never asked a salary, and that this 
therefore had nothing to do with the question before 
us. But as the matter of salary was so prominently 
brought forward, I inquired how much had been paid 
by the promiscuous multitude that had been accustomed 
to contribute for the support of ministers before my 
time, and was informed that in the best case it 
amounted to forty dollars. I requested that a sub- 
scription should be circulated, but assured them that 

152 




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this had nothing to do with our work so far as I was 
concerned, as God had so far provided for me that 
I could be satisfied with anything or nothing from 
them under existing circumstances. They circulated 
the subscription, and at the next meeting, when they 
reported that double the amount which had ever been 
raised before was subscribed, I proposed that a little 
church should be built for our little congregation, 
and that the amount subscribed for my salary should 
be devoted to that object. They were surprised at the 
offer, but agreed to accept it and went to work with 
a will. In a comparatively short time a modest house 
of worship was built and dedicated, and we worshiped 
the Lord in our own home according to our own faith, 
and the grace of God was upon us. The opposition 
to our work continued, and not long afterwards the 
Reformed also built a church close by ours. But our 
congregation, small as it was, was established on the 
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ 
Himself being the chief corner stone, and we had 
nothing to fear. I think too that most of the members, 
like myself, feared nothing. Evil reports were circu- 
lated about me, but so far as I could ascertain they 
never harmed my good reputation or my good work. 

158 



motp of 9p» inn 



We had come to stay and never quitted the field, and 
God blessed us and our work of faith and labor of love. 
There was thus an addition to the parish com- 
mitted to my charge. One Sunday was devoted to Del- 
aware, the second Sunday was divided between Pros- 
pect and Norton. But the congregations grew, and the 
needs became greater and the work more laborious. 
The principal congregation at Delaware became larger, 
and as I lived there, its increasing wants especially 
impressed me and often troubled me. I was willing to 
do what I could to supply these wants, preaching twice 
on the Sundays devoted to the home congregation and 
often three times, with at least one meeting for Bible 
study every week, often two, on Wednesday and Fri- 
day evenings, besides the catechetical and Sunday 
School work. There was a little band of young peo- 
ple, especially young men, that was eager to learn, and 
God gave me grace to be just as eager to teach. But 
what troubled me most was the necessity of being 
absent from the Delaware congregation every second 
Sunday, which seemed to me no longer necessary after 
we had entered our new church. The congregations 
had grown to such an extent that the salary question 
seemed to me no obstacle to the improvement, which 

the welfare of the whole charge required. I therefore 

154 



fetor? of S£p %itt 



proposed a division of the charge, so that Prospect and 
Norton would form an independent parish with a pas- 
tor of its own, and my work should be confined to the 
congregation at Delaware. After much reflection and 
consultation and agitation of the subject, the plan was 
adopted, and Rev. P. Gast was called to take charge 
of our two filial churches, while I was left in charge 
of the mother congregation. So after about nine years 
of labor in the whole parish I parted in sadness from 
a devoted people who had always treated me kindly, 
but with the firm conviction that their new pastor 
would give them tender care while I would be free 
to do more for Delaware. 

It needs scarcely to be mentioned that we now 
provided for divine service every Sunday, and our 
situation was such that at least two services with 
preaching were necessary. When I took charge of the 
congregation there had been no regular, but only occa- 
sional English preaching. The congregation had, 
however, become convinced that more account must 
be made of English ministrations, and it was stipulated 
in my call that I must regularly preach English in 
addition to the main German service in the morning. 
I had faithfully observed this rule. The worship in 
the forenoon was always German, and English services 

155 



fetotg of 9£# %ite 



could be held at any time that I thought best, provided 
only that there should be no interference with the prin- 
cipal morning worship in German. It was a difficult 
problem that was thus presented for solution. Various 
ways were tried. For a while I preached English 
after the German service, but while this was satis- 
factory to the Germans, who were free to return to 
their homes when their morning service was closed, 
it did not suit those who understood both languages, 
who were desirous of hearing both sermons but com- 
plained of weariness at so long a session. An evening 
service in English was tried, but some members who 
lived in the country and preferred an English sermon, 
complained that it subjected them to an unnecessary 
disadvantage. Finally we settled upon the afternoon, 
and this became the permanent arrangement. Our 
order for the Lord's Day accordingly was to have 
Sunday School and German worship in the forenoon 
and English services at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. 
Regularly we had meetings for Bible study on Wed- 
nesday evening and at some seasons also on Friday 
evening, besides the customary instruction of catechu- 
mens. 

My earnest endeavor was to build up a well-indoc- 
trinated and God-fearing Lutheran congregation. For 



m 



ibtatg of $®V %iit 



this I prayed and for this God gave me a mind to 
work. In my youthful zeal, I no doubt made mis- 
takes, but they were just as likely to lie in demanding 
too much of myself as in requiring too much of my 
people, and the Lord, whom I sought faithfully to 
serve, directed all for good. 

As I well knew that all the power for saving and 
sanctifying souls comes from God, and that He exer- 
cises this power through His Word, my preaching 
aimed to set this forth in all its heavenly truth and 
beauty, that God's will and God's work might be done. 
I was thus protected from the beginning against the 
vice of serving up on Sundays my everyday reflections 
on current events, or ventilating my opinions on sec- 
ular subjects, instead of preaching the gospel. It may 
be that in my effort to make the way of salvation plain 
to my congregation I gave so much prominence to the 
doctrine that some hearers might have been led to 
overlook the importance of a holy life. I know how 
much all preachers must learn, and continue to learn 
all their lives, in the sacred art of rightly dividing the 
word of truth. But the danger lies rather in the oppo- 
site direction, that of preaching law unto repentance 
until people are driven to despair, or unto holiness 

until they fall into a fond conceit of their own right- 

157 



fe>tot# of 9®y %itt 



eousness, and in both cases fail to embrace Christ as 
their Saviour from sin and death and damnation. So 
far as I have any regrets now it is not with regard 
to what I preached, but rather in regard to the man- 
ner. And yet this, too, contributed to my success, so 
far as human element can rightfully be taken into ac- 
count at all in estimating a minister's success. While 
the very atmosphere in Delaware was charged with the 
religion of feeling, and the whole environment urged 
upon me the great need of preaching Christ as deliv- 
ered for our offenses and raised again for our justifi- 
cation, that men might through the power of the gos- 
pel believe in Him and find peace in believing, there 
was something in my manner that was attractive even 
to those who probably would have been wearied, if 
not offended, by the simple presentation and exposition 
of the truth in Jesus. By temperament and partly by 
education also I was a man of feeling, and sentimen- 
talism was a besetting danger. Even in doctrinal ser- 
mons, in the midst of an argument or an explanation, 
my feelings would at times become so enlisted in the 
subject as to result in outbursts which would no doubt 
have astonished some judicial minds, intent on follow- 
ing the thread of the discourse, had not the whole 
been warm and fervent. This, with occasional scraps 



158 



fetotp ot 9£p JLitt 



of poetry and antique phrases which forced themselves 
upon my memory in my rapid flow of speech, no doubt 
lent it a spice and flavor that people liked. My ser- 
mons were, after the first month or two, always deliv- 
ered without manuscript. At the Seminary I had not 
learned to memorize them, and I never succeeded 
when I afterwards tried to learn the art. Several 
times I read them, as some are accustomed to do, but 
I never liked the method and know that the people 
generally do not like it ; I am sure, too, that it is the 
least effective way of securing attention and impress- 
ing a subject. Certainly a better way is to teach stu- 
dents to write their sermons and memorize them. 
When they are early trained to this the committing to 
memory soon becomes so easy that it is the work of 
but a few hours, and the preacher has all the advantage 
of a carefully worded sermon and unhampered deliv- 
ery. For me the best preparation was to write out the 
sermon, as if it were to be read to the audience, then 
to preach it without any further use of manuscript. 
A preacher who never writes his sermons, at least the 
first year, never becomes skillful in the use of language, 
and is pretty sure to fall into ruts and a slavish use 
of pet phrases and wearisome repetitions. I accus- 
tomed myself to do some writing every week, and 

159 



fetorp ot 9®v 3Litt 



studied to write with simplicity and clearness, avoid- 
ing unusual words, complicated constructions, and all 
ornament that contributed nothing to clearness in con- 
veying the thought. 

When we entered our new church the opportunity 
was embraced to arrange our service more in accord- 
ance with the spirit and usage of the Lutheran Churcfi. 
The clerical gown was thenceforth worn, the liturgy 
was used more fully, and our whole worship was ren- 
dered more solemn and more beautiful. These im- 
provements were made without much trouble. 

The weakest part of my work was in my estima- 
tion of catechization. This was not owing to any 
lack in my appreciation of the time-honored custom 
and of its great importance as a means of building up 
a solid congregation, nor any lack of willingness to 
perform the necessary labor. On the contrary, I deeply 
felt the need of diligent and patient instruction of the 
young to accomplish the end so ardently desired, and 
the need seemed to me intensified in such an environ- 
ment. But I had received little instruction in the 
theory or in the practice of catechizing, and had no 
experience that could be helpful. I was not long in 
finding out the truth of the oft repeated saying, that 

it is much more difficult to prepare and conduct a good 

160 



&torp ot a?p JLtte 



catechization than to prepare and deliver a good ser- 
mon. I think with a sigh of my first efforts. No 
doubt if I had had the benefit of being myself prepared 
for confirmation by a good catechist, I would not have 
felt so utterly incompetent. But it was not too late 
yet to learn, and I persevered and learned. It was 
much in my favor that those who came to hear my 
instructions, as a few besides the class occasionally did, 
knew as little about good catechizing as I did myself. 
Consequently no fault was found with this part of my 
work, but not a little was said in commendation of it. 
This was owing to the fervent appeals, which were 
frequently interspersed in the extended explanations, 
while only at larger intervals a question was asked. 
What was the greatest fault of my work in this de- 
partment was thus made a subject of compliment. But 
by the help of private interviews with the less gifted 
of the class, my catechumens were brought to a sav- 
ing knowledge of the truth, notwithstanding the faults 
in my method of teaching. This improved as I grew 
older and gathered experience, but with the original 
fault in my training to hamper me I never, even in my 
most optimistic mood, could claim to have reached my 
ideal of a good catechist. However, I strenuously 

labored to that end, and that helped me; and God in 
11 161 



fetorp of 9£? %itt 



this respect also did for me and through me more 
than I was able to ask or think, and therefore my cat- 
echetical work was by no means a failure. 

The work of public teaching was diligently fol- 
lowed up by pastoral visits to families and individuals, 
as occasion required and opportunities presented. I 
was early impressed with the importance of system and 
order in the work to be done. My forenoons were uni- 
formly spent in the study, unless I was especially called 
away; my afternoons were just as uniformly devoted 
to outdoor work, the evenings being left free for mis- 
cellaneous reading, social intercourse, or urgent calls. 
The preparation of sermons for Sunday of necessity 
held the first place in my morning thoughts, but I usu- 
ally had some other work in hand to which an hour 
or two could be devoted every day. This enabled me 
to study many a subject and many a book beyond what 
was requisite for immediate use in my sermons. For the 
afternoons there always was outdoor work in plenty. 
Probably a pastor who does not find enough to occupy 
his whole time, even though his charge be small, has 
never rightly understood the magnitude of the minis- 
terial calling and work, and should diligently inquire 
if what is the matter is not his lack of zeal or his lazi- 
ness. There are sick to visit, there are troubled souls' 

162 



&totv ot S@? %iit 



to comfort, there are careless members to admonish, 
there are dissensions to be healed, there are family 
troubles to be settled, there are individual doubts and 
difficulties to be solved, — there is scarcely an end to 
the cases in which a true pastor may serve the Lord 
and the Church by caring for individual souls. The 
pastor is usually himself to blame if such private 
affairs of individuals, though they may be a menace 
to their salvation, are not confided to him. People will 
confide nothing of importance to a pastor who shows 
no pastoral interest in the sheep of his fold, and who 
will just as likely as not make the revelation of an 
individual soul the subject of gossip. 

My visitations of the sick and suffering were 
always a source of anxiety. In some cases they were 
as delightful as in others they were excruciating. It 
hardly seems proper to speak of pleasure w T hen the 
results of sin are manifested in sickness and approach- 
ing death. But grace is mightier than sin, and where 
this abounds grace doth much more abound. The life 
in Christ is greater than the death in Adam, and the 
victory over sin and death in the believer's soul is a 
joy to behold. Often was I edified more by a visit to 
a Christian's sick-bed than I could have been by a 
sermon setting forth the truth which I saw illustrated 



fetotg of fll^g JLitt 



in the patient and peaceful suffering of a child of 
God; and few things in my life were more effective 
to quicken the consciousness of my own unworthiness 
than the hearty thanks which were sometimes given me 
by such meek heirs of heaven for my poor ministra- 
tions. No doubt they realized the heavenly power of 
the message which I brought them, without noticing 
the earthly weakness of the messenger whom God 
chose for the purpose. But not all sick-beds and death- 
beds were so edifying. Some were painful, more than 
I can tell. Not that the erring opinion had entered 
my mind and had been harbored there, that all Chris- 
tians physically die an easy death, while unbelievers 
always depart this life with terrible struggles, so that 
this could be a criterion by which it could be determ- 
ined whether one dies in the Lord or not. The work 
of the Holy Spirit is not to be judged by any such ex- 
ternal tests. Christian souls ordinarily have peace in 
believing, however much of bodily pain it may please 
the Lord to let them suffer before they take their 
flight to the happy land where pain is known no more. 
But the pastor's visiting of the sick is not limited to 
those whose daily spiritual nourishment is the gospel 
of the grace of God in Christ and who always strive 

to maintain a conscience void of offence toward God 

164 



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and man. He is sometimes called to the dying who do 
not know the Lord, and the mere fact that they are 
not of his own congregation cannot close his heart 
against their cry of distress, though he must scrupu- 
lously guard against interference with the rights and 
duties of other ministers. And in our own congrega- 
tions there are members who do not use the opportu- 
nities which God gives them of knowing the truth and 
being made free by it from the bonds of iniquity. It 
is sorrowful work which a pastor must do, when he 
comes to the chamber of sickness and death and finds 
a communicant member of his church, now awakened 
to a conscienciousness of his sin, inconsolable in view 
of the terrors of death and the judgment, and this all 
the more because the forms of godliness were usually 
observed while the proffered grace was rejected. The 
pastor must not despair of the Holy Spirit's power yet 
to save the soul that is despairing, but what anxiety 
and pain must in some such cases be endured by a 
faithful pastor only those who have experienced it can 
know. And not less painful are those instances in 
which not even approaching death serves to arouse a 
sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin and the urgent 
need of the Saviour who alone is mighty to save. 
Cases like this always troubled me the more be- 

165 



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cause of the difficulties usually associated with the 
proper treatment. It is manifest at once that on such 
patients the law has not yet done its proper work, and 
that the grace of the gospel could, notwithstanding all 
professions that sound right and seem right, never 
have been rightly understood and rightly received. A 
person who claims to be ready for death and the judg- 
ment because there is no blemish upon his life lacks 
something essential. I never experienced much diffi- 
culty in finding out in such cases what were the evils 
to which Satan was resorting to keep the soul away 
from Christ. Generally a brief exploration according 
to the Ten Commandments sufficed to lay bare the 
fundamental mistake. As an example I will mention 
the case of an old lady, who assured me that she was 
weary of the world and ready to die. Upon asking her 
if she was conscious of being a poor sinner, who could 
be saved only by grace, and if she trusted in Jesus as 
the Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the 
world, she replied that that was what she had been 
taught from her youth, and so she had always believed. 
But she had not been exemplary in her duties as a 
member of the congregation, although I knew nothing 
against her moral life, and this led me to some further 
questioning. I ran through the Commandments, in- 

166 



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quiring if she had obeyed each of them. She became 
offended at what must have seemed to her an inquisi- 
torial process, and when I finally asked her whether 
she had obeyed all these Commandments, she became 
angry, and declared that until now no one had ever 
dared to charge her with the transgression of the Law 
of the Lord. Of course I persisted, and I hope that 
the lady died in the faith that she was a poor sinner 
saved by grace. I mention the incident to emphasize 
the difficulty which I felt in dealing with such cases. 
I wanted to be alone with the individual concerned, 
because under such conditions it is natural that some- 
times offence would be taken at the stern application 
of the law, and some of the witnesses would be incapa- 
ble of understanding the need of what seemed to them 
unfeeling harshness, especially when the suffering 
from disease appeared to inflict punishment enough. I 
desired, and I am not of a different mind now, that the 
pastor should have the opportunity to be alone with 
the sick when he thinks it necessary, and always found 
this a great advantage in dealing with souls committed 
to my charge. The self-righteous person may at first 
be offended at a trenchant and seemingly unsympa- 
thetic insistance upon the law of righteousness, but by 

the grace of God the result will ordinarily be the per- 

167 



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ception that the choice must be made between our own 
rightousness, which is all an illusion, and the righteous- 
ness of Christ, which is real and perfect and which 
is offered in the gospel without money and price, to 
be apprehended by faith alone. The cases mentioned 
cause trouble enough without the complications caused 
by curious visitors. Ordinarily these may be welcomed 
in the sick room, but the preacher should unquestion- 
ably have the same privilege as the physician to require 
privacy when he deems it needful. 

Of course my pastoral visits were not only to 
the sick. Some were caused by troubles of which 
probably none knew but myself; some were designed 
to support the weak; some were meant to express my 
appreciation of good work done ; some were prompted 
by the fear that individuals or families were becom- 
ing negligent of the one thing needful, or were in 
danger of going astray: all had the purpose of pro- 
moting godliness in heart and home, and of strength- 
ening the Church by invigorating the spiritual life 
of its members. 

It was in pursuance of the same purpose that 
I sought to instill a love for the old customs of our 
Church in regard to preparation for communion. 
Private confession and absolution seemed to me the 

168 



feiotg of 9£g %\it 



wisest provision for enabling the pastor to exercise 
his office in the care of souls and the people to de- 
rive the full benefit of his ministrations. There is a 
special comfort for the soul in the application of the 
gospel to the individual. While of course each be- 
liever can appropriate a public proclamation of remis- 
sion of sins, the Church evidently designed, when 
she declared that private absolution should not be 
abandoned, to furnish a safe-guard against the dan- 
ger besetting the hearer of losing the blessing by 
inattention to the precious announcement, or by re- 
ferring it to others instead of appropriating it to 
himself, which cannot be so easily done when the 
pastor absolves each individual separately. But in 
the circumstances at Delaware I thought the best 
attainable would be a more careful and more efficient 
use of the existing custom of registering all appli- 
cants for communion. I accordingly urged and in 
course of time insisted that all names of persons 
desiring to commune be given me prior to confession 
and absolution, and that, so far as practicable, each 
one should do this in person. Next I requested and 
pleaded that such application for communion be 
made by each person in such a way that if any one 
desired a private interview with me pertaining to the 

169 



fetorp of $®v %iie 



spiritual life or if I desired it, an opportunity should 
be given. To this end I appointed, before each com- 
munion, certain hours during which this could be 
done at my home, and, for those who might find 
this too great an inconvenience, one hour at the 
church immediately preceding the confessional ser- 
vice. All legalistic measures and influences were 
avoided. My purpose was fully stated and explained, 
and each member could make his or her own choice, 
and was never treated as more or less worthy because 
of the choice made. About half the communicants 
availed themselves of the opportunity to meet me in 
my study, and the rest did not object to come one 
by one into the vestry room of the church while the 
others waited. Though the doors were left open, a 
few necessary words could thus still be spoken with- 
out being heard by others. My aim was to encour- 
age unburdening of hearts, to the pastor, with a view 
of furnishing the help needed, without subjecting the 
persons concerned to the tortures of gossip and 
heartless criticism. In this way a great deal was 
accomplished towards promoting the spiritual life of 
the congregation, and there were many who appre- 
ciated the work and fostered it. Of course a pastor 

who cannot sacredly keep secrets thus imparted to 

170 



©tot? of 9p? %itt 



him, can never make such method a success; but has 
such a gossiping pastor really the necessary qualifica- 
tions for the holy office? 

It was the same line of thought and feeling that 
led me to institute a better discipline in the congre- 
gation. I was not so ignorant as to suppose that 
error in doctrine and life could not exist in an organ- 
ized body of true Christians; but I was learned 
enough to know that it ought not to exist in a Chris- 
tian, least of all in a Lutheran congregation in which 
Christianity appears in its purest form. False doc- 
trine and unholy life have no rights among God's 
redeemed people. So I thought then, and so I think 
now, after fifty years of study and experience have 
clarified and confirmed my convictions. The Church 
is holy in its invisible reality, and this holiness should 
be manifest, as far as possible, in the visible organ- 
ization of that holy Church in the assemblies of 
Christians. I know the divine command that we 
must avoid those who teach false doctrine and that 
we must reject heretics after the first and second ad- 
monition, and I know that we must refuse to fellow- 
ship persons who impenitently continue to live in sin 
against the Commandments of Him who is alone Lord 

in the Church. Sin must be put away from us, that we 

171 



fetorg OS 9^ JLite 



may be a holy people. I know that the flesh continues 
to lust against the Spirit, and that if we say we are 
without sin we deceive ourselves. But sin must be put 
away. The individual renounces it when he becomes a 
Christian, and the Church renounces it when it organ- 
izes as a communion of saints. If the individual will 
not put it away by repentance, but claims the right 
to live in it as the world generally does, the Church 
must put that individual away with his sin, denying 
such right, and refusing to be partaker of the sin 
and to incur God's judgment upon it. On these prin- 
ciples we acted, and the result was that we were pro- 
tected against the canker of many an error and the 
leaven of many an ungodliness, which were either 
nipped in the bud to the everlasting welfare of those 
immediately concerned, or excluded from the Church 
and thus rendered powerless to spread the infection. 
This greatly increased my labor, but the profiting was 
manifest. The subject of Church discipline had evi- 
dently received little attention in our Synod at that 
time; for in cases of difficulty I could get but little 
assistance from brethren in the ministry. Some ad- 
vice that was given me would now seem preposter- 
ous. 

Much of my work was necessarily directed to 
172 



Istoiv ni 9&g %ilt 



the prevention of conduct and participation in cus- 
toms which, though not sinful in themselves, I re- 
garded as menaces to the spiritual life, partly by offer- 
ing hindrances to growth in grace, partly by tending 
to excesses and habits which naturally lead the heart 
away from Christ. As in course of time my congre- 
gation, in its leading elements, was in full accord 
with its pastor, we were often charged with undue 
rigor, insomuch that some of the less earnest mem- 
bers were prone to remark that when they wanted a 
"good time/' they must go to another place, as what 
they wanted was a sin in Delaware. Just for such 
persons our practice was a great blessing, notwith- 
standing their misinterpretation of its import; and 
I am not ashamed now, as I was not then, that a 
member of my congregation was reported to have 
said that he could not go to a certain ball because, 
if he did, the pastor would be at his house next day 
and he could not be prepared to look him in the 
face. But my visits to those who went to theatrical 
performances and circus shows, to card-parties and 
club-frolics, to saloons and races, and similar ques- 
tionable resorts, were far from being unduly rigor- 
eus. They were purely pastoral. So far from being 
disciplinary, they were designed to prevent the neces- 

173 



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sity of Church discipline in the strict sense. I was 
too much impressed with the goodness of God in res- 
cuing me as a brand from the burning to think of 
dealing damnation around upon erring people who 
were presumably better than myself. But just because 
I felt the need of kindly warning, if the case were 
my own, I sought in Christian love to warn others, 
though it should cost me something. I find comfort 
now in the belief that many a soul was rescued from 
the wiles of the devil by being warned in time. Also, 
not all would hear the loving word of the Lord and 
some went on in their self-chosen way of the flesh. 
Of course then discipline was exercised, and when 
they would not submit to the Master's ways, they 
were lost to us. God may have found them later. I 
do not know. 

Perhaps an example will best illustrate our pro- 
cedure. A member of the congregation who had 
afforded me a great deal of pleasure by his diligent 
participation in our week-day Bible studies, as well 
as by his diligent attendance upon the means of grace 
on Sundays, came one day to consult me on a matter 
that deeply affected him. He informed me that he 
had been a Pietist in his German home in Wuerttem- 
berg, but that only since he lived at Delaware had 

174 



fetatp of Slpg %itt 



he understood the doctrine of justification by faith 
in the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the 
world and experienced the peace and joy which faith 
in Christ alone can bring. He had for several years 
maintained himself and family as a day-laborer, and 
was happy in his home with his daily bread. But 
in his fatherland he had learned the trade of a baker, 
and now a good opportunity was offered to pursue 
that calling with a prospect of bettering his condition. 
So far there was nothing for me to say but to express 
my approval of his diligence and his devotion to the 
truth in Jesus. But that was not the purpose of his 
visit. He told me that he came to ask my advice in 
a matter that perplexed him. 

When he made known to his friends his inten- 
tion to establish a bakery, a number of them desired 
that he should sell beer, as other bakers and grocers 
often did, and thus not only add something to his 
income, but also enable his friends to enjoy a glass 
of the beverage in unobjectionable surroundings. He 
emphasized especially that some brethren of our own 
congregation desired this, as they would be glad to 
have a place to go for this purpose without being 
brought into bad company. He was not sure that 
it would be right to give his consent and desired to 



175 



&>tot2 Of 9£» %itt 



consult me about it. He knew our position in regard 
to the saloon business, and was fully in accord with 
us in our endeavor to protect our congregation from 
its influence for evil. In reply to my reference to 
the manifest dangers connected with it, he assured me 
that he had no thought of keeping a saloon in the 
ordinary sense, that he designed to sell no other than 
malt liquors, and to keep these only for the accom- 
modation of such as were regular patrons of his 
bakery. I showed him that his scheme was imprac- 
ticable, because if beer were sold at all in a public 
place the discrimination which he proposed could not 
be made without giving offence to some and thus 
hindering the success of his bakery, and that little by 
little concessions would have to be made to custo- 
mers until he would be running a saloon like those 
already existing, to which there was no need for add- 
ing another. I warned him, too, that his Christian 
character would surely suffer if he carried out his pro- 
ject, because temptations to wrong-doing would mul- 
tiply, and no man can be safe if he needlessly walks 
in perilous places. He thanked me, and I think went 
on his way with the sincere intention to abandon the 
project. Later he came again. He then informed 
me that he had been on a visit to some friends and 

176 



fetotp of 9®v JLitt 



had there met the pastor of their congregation; that 
the project which he had talked over with me had 
become the topic of conversation ; that the opinion of 
all was favorable to the plan which he had proposed, 
the pastor especially laying stress on the fact that 
the saloon business was mostly in the hands of 
ungodly men, and there was special need for such a 
resort as he had projected; and that the circum- 
stance had revived in his mind the idea of putting his 
plan into practice. I tried again to convince him that 
I was right, notwithstanding the contrary opinion of 
other Christian people, but this time apparently with 
less success. He did not tell me what he would do, 
I still trusted that he would do right. But he began 
to dispense malt liquors to his customers. As was 
my custom, I visited him and his place of business, 
as I did others, and nothing indicated that he was 
not the same devoted Christian that he had always 
been. He was regular in his attendance upon the 
means of grace and his life was without reproach. 
He was a good baker, a good man, had chosen a 
good location, and his business prospered. But one 
day, when I visited him and he was quite at leisure, 
he made a revelation that startled me. He told me 
that what I had warned him of had come true; that 
12 177 



fetor? of 9$v %ite 



he had begun with dispensing beer to his friends, 
but could not with any propriety refuse it to their 
friends ; that the number of these friends and friends' 
friends kept constantly increasing; that some of these 
friends wanted something stronger than beer, and 
that the reason for furnishing the latter seemed to 
require the furnishing of the former; and that thus 
the saloon business had become dominant in his bak- 
ery. I do not think that I felt any elation at the 
confessed fulfilment of my prophecy, and I am sure 
that I manifested none in my remarks on the situa- 
tion. It was depressing. But not only this was 
reported. He continued by telling me that he was not 
happy; that /lis family worship had been disturbed 
so often, that it was finally abandoned; that his poor 
wife was deprived of her daily solace in the Word 
of the Lord, which they were accustomed to read 
together and of the thanksgivings and petitions which 
they formerly enjoyed before laying their bodies 
down to sleep; that their children were no longer 
instructed in the precious catechism, but ran wild 
like heathens; and that the peace of God had de- 
parted from his house. It was a painful interview, 
and it was doubly so when, upon my assurance that 
the grace of God is sufficient to remedy the distress- 

178 



fetor? of 9$v %iit 



ing condition, if he would only turn from the error 
of his ways and flee for refuge to the hope set before 
him in Christ, he replied that it was too late. When 
I appealed to him to let the money involved in the 
matter go whither it would, and save his own soul 
though he should come penniless out of the fire, he 
still maintained that the entanglement was too great: 
he could not extricate himself: it was too late. He 
became very rich in the things of this world, and 
alas! became very poor in the treasures of heaven, 
so that we were forced to refuse any further Chris- 
tian fellowship with him, because he would no longer 
submit to the Master's Word, which had given him 
so much comfort and strength in his better days. 

What became of the poor man afterwards I do 
not know. But who would say that our practice was 
wrong because we seemed in this case to fail? In 
other cases we succeeded: and even when, as in. the 
instance mentioned, we seemed to fail, our efforts were 
not wholly in vain. Maybe that truth and righteous- 
ness prevailed at last in this erring soul. At any rate 
the only possibility lies in the grace which is offered 
by the gospel. If the power of God fails, nothing can 
help the poor soul : it is too late. 

Our treatment of saloonists was not such as fan- 
179 



&tot» of S$» %itt 



atical prohibitionists would commend. We never pro- 
nounced the drinking of a glass of beer or wine a sin. 
How could we in the Lord's name condemn what the 
Lord has not condemned ? But adhering strictly to the 
Scriptures, in this as in many other respects, we treated 
drunkenness not only as an evil to the individual and 
to society in the present world, but as ruinous to the 
soul, and refused to tolerate it in the congregation. 
But just on this account we were careful to watch and 
to warn against Satan's wiles, and sought to discourage 
the visiting and especially the keeping of resorts that 
presented temptations to excess. We therefore pre- 
ferred to have no saloon keepers in our congregation, 
and all my experiences confirmed me in the position 
which we had taken. There were not wanting appli- 
cations for membership on the part of such persons, 
but their occupation was always a barrier to their 
reception. This was not because my people regarded 
such business as an absolute disqualification for mem- 
bership in the Christian Church. I think that we had 
all become of one mind in the truth of the Gospel, 
and that I fully represented the prevailing sentiment 
in my pastoral work. We desired to avoid stumbling 
blocks and to shut out temptations. 

In one instance we yielded. A saloon-keeper 
180 



§>tatg ot S$g %itt 



applied. He seemed to be well-grounded in his faith ; 
there was no fault to be found with his life ; he had a 
family in good repute for Christian training and de- 
portment. I conferred with him time and again. He 
declared himself in hearty accord with our position in 
doctrine and practice, agreed to all requirements that 
I made, such as closing his place without reservations 
on Sunday, refusing to sell or give any liquors to known 
drunkards, or persons who already showed that they 
had been drinking, or to minors, or to those whose 
families were known to need for bread every dime that 
was spent for liquor. My aim was to induce him to 
quit the business, though I did not believe and there- 
fore could not show that such business is in its nature 
and therefore of necessity sinful. Our negotiations 
had continued for about eighteen months, when the 
man told me that he yearned for holy communion; 
that he saw no way of supporting his growing family, 
if he quitted the business into which he believed him- 
self providentially led; and that if we refused still 
to admit him to communion, for which he ardently 
longed, he would try to get along without the Church, 
and we might look to the final judgment for our share 
in the work and its consequences. We finally received 
him, and that was about the end of his holiness. He 

181 



&tot# of 9®v %itt 



had attained his purpose of getting the sanction of the 
congregation, but if he had ail this time been playing 
the arrant hypocrite he failed after all; for though 
we were a year and six months in admitting him, we 
were only about four weeks in getting rid of him 
again. 

It is because of instances like this that I declared 
my position to be confirmed by my experience. Con- 
gregations get along better without saloon-keepers as 
members than with them, and I am sure that earnest 
pastors are spared much anxiety and labor w T here such 
people are not committed to their charge. The fact 
that a good shepherd always rejoices in the oppor- 
tunity to care for souls, whatever labor it may cost 
him, does not change my conviction that in cases of 
doubt it is always better to do the work needed before 
receiving applicants than afterwards, when their rights 
in the congregation give them an influence among 
the membership that may prove ruinous. 

This is especially the case with regard to secret 

societies, from the baleful influence of which scarcely 

a Christian congregation in the land is exempt. Fifty 

years ago it was comparatively a new thing to refuse 

them admittance into the congregation. But soon 

after we were freed from entanglements with the Re- 

182 



fetotg of 9®v JLite 



formed by the consecration of our own church build- 
ing, we declined to accept applicants of such affiliation, 
unless they would renounce the brotherhood of nature 
and self-interest in favor of the brotherhood in Christ 
by grace alone. There were some secretists in the 
congregation. I preached against the natural religion 
of the lodges that our people might see the relation in 
which Masonry, Odd Fellowship, and kindred asso- 
ciations stand to revelation in Christ and the great 
salvation which the Scriptures proclaim through Him, 
and private opportunities were embraced to show lodge 
men how lodgery conflicts with Christianity. 

But the decision came before I was quite ready. 
A member of our congregation who had been a Mason 
was so thoroughly convinced of the impossibility of 
his being a true Christian while he continued to be a 
member of the Masonic Lodge, that he renounced all 
connection with lodgery, and at a congregational 
meeting without having consulted me on the subject, 
introduced a resolution closing our doors against the 
whole system of secret societyism as an enemy to the 
truth in Jesus. I thought the movement premature, 
because I had not yet done all that was possible to 
enlighten my people, and especially to convince our 
secretists of their error. But I could not oppose it. 



183 



fetottf of 9pg %itt 



because it was precisely what I purposed to do a little 
later. The resolution was adopted with little difficulty, 
and all communion with secretists and all reception of 
secret society members ceased. The congregation 
had no further trouble with the subject. But of course 
the pastor had. The secretists of the congregation 
were forced to a decision. I knew that in such a case 
there was no hurry. The members of lodges were 
not pressed to decide before they were ready. They 
could not be admitted to the Holy Supper; that was 
settled. But our interest in their welfare did not 
cease on that account. I still tried to remove the 
obstacle to their communing with us. As long as they 
were willing to hear me, I was willing to convince 
them of their error and win them to the truth revealed 
in Holy Scripture. And my labor was not in vain in 
the Lord. Of the seven lodge men who were in the 
congregation four left the lodge, while three pre- 
ferred to leave the Church, though their families re- 
mained with us and they attended our services as 
before. I still regard it as, a sad mistake in the treat- 
ment of the unhappy lodge question, which nearly 
every pastor is still called to face, when a secretist is 
admitted to the Holy Supper, while the pastor is labor- 
ing to convince him of the sin in which he is living. If 

184 



fetor? of 9pp %iti 



earnest work is done such treatment can hardly be 
desired by either of the parties concerned, and my 
conviction abides that concessions seemingly made in 
charity only render the right solution of the compli- 
cated problem more difficult and in some cases work 
ruin. 

A not unimportant part of my plan for pastoral 
work was close attention to the attendance at worship 
and communion. Although the congregation gradually 
became large, I did not find it difficult to notice the 
absence at worship of such members as were ordinarily 
regular attendants, or of the continued absence of such 
as were irregular. Such absence was always made the 
subject of inquiry, partly because if the absentees were 
sick or otherwise disabled they might be regarded as 
brethren who needed the consolations of the Gospel, 
partly because if they were not sick or disabled 
they needed the pastor's attention on the ground 
of negligence. In either case they were to be 
visited as soon as possible. In this way many 
an error and many a devious course was pre- 
vented by dealing with it in its beginnings and 
removing the canker before it had taken root. In 
regard to communion I kept an accurate list, alphabeti- 
cally arranged, by which I could see at a glance if a 

185 



fetorp of 9®v 3Litt 



member had communed in the course of a year, and 
how often. If there were any who had not appeared 
at the Lord's Supper in the course of a year, it was 
my rule to visit them and talk the subject over with 
them. It was not an easy task, because any urgency 
to partake of the sacrament was felt to be of doubtful 
expediency, inasmuch as it might lead to participation 
in a formal way only to escape reproach. But I 
deemed it necessary to rebuke the neglect of so great 
a privilege and, while laying no stress on the moral 
obligation, which might lead to mere legal obedience, 
urged the need of the grace which the sacrament com- 
municates for the preservation and growth of the 
spiritual life, and the assurance of salvation. In some 
cases my work was successful ; in some cases it failed ; 
and the persons under treatment who, notwithstanding 
the repeated visits during the year and repeated in- 
struction and pleading, were delinquents still at the 
end of the second year, were then reported to the 
Church. For this purpose among others a regular 
meeting was held at the beginning of each year, and 
because of the work regularly done it was called the 
meeting for "house-cleaning." It was expected that 
every case of unsuccessful efforts on my part to induce 
such as became indifferent to avail themselves of the 

186 



fetot? of ®$y JLitt 



means of grace, when this had been continued for two 
years, should be reported at this meeting and the 
persons concerned be cited to appear. If they refused 
to appear or declared their intention to have no further 
connection with our congregation, they were noted as 
self-excluded, and their names were stricken from the 
roll. Such cases were not numerous. The rule was 
rather that due diligence in doing pastoral work re- 
sulted in winning back the careless to a better use of 
their privileges. 

Such pastoral care, combined with the discipline 
practiced in flagrant sins, not only by the grace of God 
rescued many a soul from the snares of the devil, but 
served also to protect us against the growth of an un- 
sympathetic element, which might prove a menace to 
our work, and a blemish on our good name. 

I had labored in Delaware about twelve years 
before the establishment of a parochial school, which 
I deemed necessary for the right fulfillment of our 
mission, and for which I ardently longed, was under- 
taken. The difficulties in our way were in this respect 
not greater than they usually are in congregations that 
have grown comparatively old without it, though I 
am firmly convinced that they were greater than most 
of our ministers would encounter now, if they would 



187 



&totv Df 9®V %ttt 



enter upon the work in the name of the Lord with the 
firm conviction of its necessity for the future welfare 
of the Church in general and of the Lutheran Church 
in particular. My congregation was not rich, but we 
always had money enough to do what I could convince 
them to be the Lord's will, in whose name alone 
I felt myself authorized to ask for money. I never 
feared that there would not be a sufficient number of 
people to support the school if I succeeded in showing 
them that the Master desires it, even if some in the 
congregation doubted, and some few would rather not 
be convinced. That was not my chief trouble. The 
greatest difficulty was one that happily does not stand 
in the way of our progress now. It was the lack of 
teachers. I have in many cases recommended to 
pastors that they should themselves teach until better 
arrangements could be made. Such a recommendation 
I never made when the circumstances were such as 
those existing in my Delaware charge. The organi- 
zation of our work was such as fully to occupy my time 
and task my strength; and when by the blessing of 
God we had prospered so far that an occasional hour 
might have been spared without direct damage to our 
cause, I did not dare to harbor the thought of teaching 
a school, which would have required for its success 



188 




The Rev. M. Loy as Pastor at Delaware, Ohio. 



&totg ot 8$p %ite 



tenfold more than such an occasional hour, while even 
this could be spared only with doubting mind. Add 
to this my feeling of incompetency to organize and 
efficiently to conduct such a school as was needed and 
I wanted, undertaking the work myself seemed to me 
out of the question. But to get a good teacher was 
the difficulty with which I had to wrestle. Getting the 
children and getting the money did not trouble me 
much. But getting the teacher did. I did not think 
it right to have one of the few who were then in the 
Ohio Synod called away from the places where they 
were doing a good work, seeing how hard it would be 
to supply his place. I read and heard of teachers seek- 
ing employment, but I was not willing, after all my 
toil to build up a good Lutheran congregation, to 
assume any risks with that class of people. My only 
hope was to get a teacher from the Missourians, with 
whom I was on good terms and who promised to help 
us when they could, but they rightly claimed that their 
first duty was to their own congregations, and that we 
must wait until their own most urgent needs were 
supplied. We waited long in vain. Finally help came 
from another source. A son of my dear friend, Rev. 
C. Spielmann, declared himself willing to undertake the 
work. We called Mr. J. H. Spielmann, a young man, 

189 



fbtovji of 9p? Ette 



who had graduated at our college, and he came. He 
was of the same mind with his devoted father and 
myself, and we labored together in complete harmony 
and to our mutual delight. The school, notwithstand- 
ing our imperfect accommodations in the basement of 
the Church, prospered and grew until we had 80 pupils, 
and a second teacher became a crying need. The 
second teacher could not be found, and Bro. Spielmann, 
who had never intended to devote his life to teaching 
a parochial school, was called away. Then new 
troubles came. From lack of sufficient teaching force, 
the school was losing ground, and when our first 
teacher left us we could never regain it. Before I left 
Delaware we had two other teachers, one of whom 
lacked intellectual ability to cope with the requirements, 
the other of whom, a convert from the Romish 
Church, had not the moral equipment for the place. 
The school was debilitated when I left the congregation 
and I was not astonished to hear that it afterwards 
died for lack of a good teacher. 

Unexpectedly, after nearly sixteen years of work 
as pastor, the call came to me to accept a professorship 
in Capital University. As this was to a chair in the- 
ology, as well as in the academic department, and the 
need especially in the theological department of the 

190 



&tot$ of ®$v %itt 



University was pressing, my objections and those of 
my congregation were overcome, and in March, 1865, 
I removed to Columbus and took charge of the work 
assigned me there. 

But before continuing the story of my labor in 
this field as professor, in which the rest of a long life 
was to be spent, some events which belong to a period 
of my pastorate at Delaware should be narrated. 
How it came about that I was chosen for such an 
important place will be better understood when 
some account is given of my work beyond the 
limits of my own parish and aside from this. Before 
I entered my professorship I had become president 
of our Joint Synod of Ohio, which necessarily implies 
that I had used such gifts as I possessed to promote 
our synodical interests. I had also become editor 
of our English periodical, the Lutheran Standard. 
Moreover I had established a home, and had the 
manifold experiences of a husband and father. 
These things require some notice in a story of 
my life, and to these attention will be given in subse- 
quent chapters, before giving an account of my work 
as professor in Capital University. 



191 



CHAPTER V. 

SYNOD. 

WHEN I entered the ministry, no one called to 
the office in a congregation of the Ohio Synod 
thought that all righteousness in this regard was ful- 
filled when the call was accepted. I do not think 
that the pioneers of our Synod consciously entertained 
the human opinion, that a minister is really such only 
when he receives ordination at the hands of other 
ministers, who were in like manner ordained before 
him. They had no explicitly Romish views, but they 
had imbibed Romanizing traditions without suspicion 
of their Romish trend. They were Lutherans of 
simple evangelical faith, and if they erred it was not 
because they had a spirit different from that of the 
Lutheran Church of old, but because their intellectual 
insight was defective. My acquaintance with the old 
fathers of our Synod only led me to respect their 
humble devotion to the truth revealed in Holy Scrip- 
ture, and even when I suffered most at their hands, 
I never could join in with those who scoffed at their 

ignorant Pietism as some Missourians, though by no 

192 



&totp of S£g JLitt 



means all of them, did. I had learned much from the 
Missourian publications, but by that merciful Provi- 
dence which was to me so manifest in all my poor 
life, I was blessed with the acquaintance of men, such 
as Wyneken and Schwan, who knew something of 
men and of the gospel, and therefore could distin- 
guish when the flesh seemed to domineer over the 
spirit. Even such men as Dr. Sihler, who was 
thought to be one of the most violent opponents of 
our Ohio Synod, were not of the class who recklessly 
condemned us. One night, at a meeting of the Mis- 
sourians which I attended, this champion of Missouri- 
anism, with whom I had before had interviews, at- 
tacked our Synod with the violence for which he was 
noted in his assaults on what he regarded as error 
in doctrine or practice. I replied as well as I could 
in defence of our Synod. But he seemed to take no 
note of my defence, and I ceased to answer him. We 
had retired, and I went to sleep during his tirade. 
Next morning, while I took an early walk towards 
the park before breakfast, he followed me and, over- 
taking me, at once accosted me with the question, 
why I had so abruptly broken off the conversation 
of the previous night. He was an elderly man and 
I was a mere stripling, but I knew the superior claims 



13 198 



&torg of 9®v %itt 



of truth and right over age, and honestly replied 
that I saw the futility of reasoning against inveterate 
prejudice, and therefore had nothing more to say. 
Instead of getting angry, as some of his brethren 
might have done, he immediately expressed his fear 
that his zeal was carnal and begged me to pardon 
his inconsiderate extravagance. We generally got 
along well after that, and I always felt that, in any 
question requiring evangelical judgment, he was a 
better man to consult than Dr. Walther who, with 
all his eminent learning, was more legalistically in- 
clined and therefore, except in matters of erudition, 
a less desirable counsellor. But there were fanatics 
among the Missourians, especially among the younger 
pastors, and it is no wonder that our older men, who 
had suffered many a hardship in the service of the 
Church, and had grown gray in the service, were not 
disposed to accept kindly the reckless damnation of 
their work which was sometimes dealt around, or to 
seat themselves humbly at the feet of men who were 
adepts at finding fault, but were not apt to teach. It 
thus came about that there was equal prejudice on 
both sides. My zeal, which was not in all cases ac- 
cording to knowledge and which was not wholly free 
from influences of the flesh, soon gained for me the 

194 



fe>tot# o£ S$g %itt 



reputation of being a Missourian, which rendered my 
position more difficult. My youth, my but partial 
mastery of the profound theology of the Church, 
and the prejudice against my alleged Missourianism, 
made it far less easy to carry a point in Synod than 
it was in my congregation. I do not think that I 
ever deported myself with the superciliousness of one 
who thinks that he knows it all, or gave utterance 
to my conviction with the air of an upstart re- 
former. My shrinking nature and the native tim- 
idity which I never fully overcame, though pushed 
by duty into many a conflict, would in itself have for- 
bidden such a thought, even if I had not had the 
good sense and the grace which protect an upright 
soul against such unwisdom. What I said and did I 
strove to do modestly and quietly, and it was not 
often that the flow of feeling and consequent rush of 
words, which it was a hard task for me to overcome 
even in the pulpit, led me into a gush of oratory so 
inappropriate in a deliberative assembly. 

It would not be perfectly candid if I did not 
confess that there were some among the fathers of 
our Synod for whom I had as little respect as I had 
for some of the boys among the Missourians, and 
that I. was sometimes provoked to utterances which, 

195 



fetotg nt S$p %itt 



under other circumstances, would be pronounced un- 
seemly. 

While I regarded most of the men who at that 
day, besides the comparatively younger Pastor Spiel- 
mann and Prof. Lehmann, were leaders in our Synod, 
as sincerely devoted to the truth as the Lutheran 
Church confesses it, I could not find it in my heart 
to approve the course which some of them were 
taking. While I was laboring hard, under privations 
that would otherwise have been unnecessary, to build 
up a soundly Lutheran congregation, it was trying 
to accept rebukes from men who were at ease in Zion, 
and whose congregations were dying from inanition 
while they frittered away their precious time in pro- 
moting secret-societyism or practicing allotria that 
brought them money. If I sometimes used a word 
in reply which seemed harsh, who would blame me 
in such a case? At the very first meeting of Synod 
which I attended a minister who was looked up to as 
one of the wisest and most distinguished of our old 
pioneers, preached the principal sermon. He showed 
what the Word of God requires of us in regard to 
the practice of love, how the Church has failed in 
executing the Master's will, and how the secret or- 
ganizations of our land had been impelled to take up 

196 



fetot? of ®%y %ift 



the work, which the Church had failed to perform. 
He was a Mason, and I was a Lutheran. Of course 
I was indignant, though it was only a few years since 
I had been a secretist myself. If the case occurred 
now, since I have studied more and prayed more and 
experienced more, I would not have become a mem- 
ber of the Ohio Synod without a renunciation of the 
Deistic foundation of that sermon and of the man 
who preached it, unless he repented of the sin and 
made all possible reparation of the evil resulting. I 
said nothing in public, which I now see to be a fault. 
In private I spoke of it, but little was said by others 
and nothing was done. He was an authority in Synod, 
and publicly nobody said anything, and so the matter 
was passed over in silence. When in the discharge of 
a duty entrusted to me by Synod I later met this man 
in a town of western Ohio, where the Masons were 
having a celebration and he was to make a speech; 
and upon his cordial invitation to attend the public 
meeting, I turned away with the remark that I must 
be about the Master's business, I think my treatment 
of him was gentle, and he had no reason to take 
offense or speak of me as a saucy boy. There were 
some others who regarded me with suspicion, if not 
with positive dislike. They had gotten into ruts out 

197 



&tor? of 9®v %itt 



of which it was humanly impossible to pry them, and 
least of all was I qualified for the task. Every in- 
centive was given me to study the apostolic admoni- 
tion, "Let no man despise thy youth," but I had not 
the equipment necessary to wage a successful war 
against traditions that were venerable with age, and 
were defended by men who had become venerable 
in their observance. Had it not been for such men 
as Pastor Spielmann and Prof. Lehmann, my posi- 
tion in the Ohio Synod would probably have be- 
come untenable. But I did what I could, and my 
success in my own congregation, under God's con- 
tinual blessing and my unwearied application to 
study, gave me ever new courage to testify of the 
great grace bestowed upon the Lutheran Church as 
the great Church of the Reformation, and to resist 
all unionistic movements tending to reduce her to a 
pitiful sect among other sects of the land. When I 
accordingly argued, in opposition to the so-called liber- 
ality of the old pioneers, that if we had nothing 
special to contend for in the Lutheran Church for 
conscience sake, we could save men and money by 
abandoning our Lutheran organization and joining our 
forces with other Christians who cared nothing for 
creed, but still professed to care for Christianity, the 

198 



Das iilinisienum its tO.*$tlid)cn Districts btx €mn%dv3b r | 

Cntiicnscffat Sfimofcc uon €M)io it. a. 0i £an£im3ct feui • J 



LM;X.y 



,u 7) / < ^ 7/ 



umauttq ckc*< i 




/S^A 



*t sts' Vra> 



&.MrA 



rr> 



Facsimilie of the License Issued to M. Loy, Trinity Sunday, 1849, at 

Lewisburg, Ohio. Renewed Until Trinity Sunday, 1851, 

at New Bremen, Ohio. Renewed Until Trinity 

Sunday, 1852, at Canton, Ohio. 




In £$)& .mt> Ui\ bm^bmm ©taaten urNnfctt **»fc linnet hermit ; tag ipcer 

jjtt »erwc(«n •, mx> feaff $«? tie (grlaufmif g?ad>«i tewfcsn, |n f atedjifirea, 5« p?*ttgea, 
- gu tanfen tmfe ju^mtem$mi ""<• •« * <* *'« £ / t^< t(v x %/fh n ^' ( excel /sJ A 

^ y /* .-/- ^ ^ v * y ' /6 i 



sire \mi$$ if m tp Urn Uf^tm Wdmfimm $W ton t>|* ^eamtcit tteffetHn mtytn 
angetofefea toerfcert; $6% fe, taf ?r -9|# ©«w$ m *ji UR S teg ]b«fa#ten gftiaifhriitm* $W 
fcefjen SSumwa ?" j nanat* 0$ni«a* ni$$ &erCi#ir, aiscf? in f«n« mUm ®mM 
%mts C fou, mt> t>af* ftvli fcas iTUttificT<S« *«&*($$*, Mefe $egd>t$F"~ 

$rltti*&« ut crticucrn cfcet |u^5cf j« acumen. 

3u &fea mc^rec Slrfaafce f>a6ta wniihm feicfes B*»3»*6 Hxhbn mil unfit* 
S8am«»$ Hnt«f#rift ttafe 6epscf5gtfm 2Jli«» ?** crt^ciU* 

-/I 




Facsimile of a License Issued in 1818. 



&totj? DC tyy Hilt 



effect was horrifying. Even my nearest friends 
thought me an extremist, and begged that allowance 
should be made for my youth and inexperience. I 
was not expelled, probably because there was too 
much liberality for that, and too much sturdy Luth- 
eran good sense to discriminate against Lutheranism 
in the practice of unionism. And the leaven worked. 
When in March, 1849, I accepted the call to be- 
come pastor of the Delaware charge, and in the fol- 
lowing Trinity week appeared as an applicant for 
admission to Synod at the meeting of the Western 
District of the Ohio Synod at Lewisburg, Ohio, I 
was not yet sufficiently versed in biblical lore or 
Lutheran theology to be offended at my treatment. 
With a number of others I was examined as to my 
fitness for the ministry. The examination was satis- 
factory to the committee, and I was, with the others, 
recommended, not to ordination, but to licensure for 
one year. This was not designed to express any 
doubt as to our qualification for the office, or to cur- 
tail the rights of the congregations. It was simply 
in accordance with a custom, the wide import of 
which had probably never been carefully considered. 
Manifestly it was meant to safeguard our congrega- 
tions against strolling preachers and clerical tramps, 

199 



fetorp of tyy %itt 



who abounded in those times, and who have still not 
perished from the earth. 

At the second synodical meeting which I attended 
a sort of biblical defence of the license system was 
presented, showing that objections had been raised 
against it. Its justification was sought in the wis- 
dom and care commanded in the appointment of min- 
isters, while the most important question, namely, to 
whom the power of such appointment belongs, was 
overlooked. I do not think that my work suffered 
materially from Synod's error in this regard; for 
whatever limitations of a pastor's power may theoret- 
ically lie in such a system, and whatever disparage- 
ment of the person called to the ministry may be 
involved in its application, it would not become effect- 
ive so long as no clash came with congregational 
rights. It may be that some had lost respect for me 
because I was only a candidate, as some regarded me 
less because of my youth; but such subordinate mat- 
ters are usually of little consequence when a man has 
a cause to maintain which asserts its inherent power. 
I went on with my work as the pastor of the con- 
gregation which had called me, and was never 
troubled by the thought that, on some dark day, 
Synod might revoke my license and declare my con- 

200 



&tot# oe 99» %itt 



gregations vacant. I suppose that the fathers in our 
Synod never contemplated the case, which might have 
occurred with me as the principal actor in the drama, 
of a candidate rendered obnoxious by his Lutheran- 
ism and of a Lutheran congregation deprived of its 
faithful pastor by opponents who had no love for 
consistent Lutheranism. If my brethren had refused 
to renew my license in 1850, after my first year of 
hard work and hard fighting, I do not know what 
would have resulted. I think that there were then 
still some men in the congregation who would not 
have pined away in grief if I had been deposed. A 
few of these might have taken the necessary steps to 
counteract the recommendation which was given me, 
if they had only known how to do it ; and there were 
a few of the prominent men in Synod who would not 
have been disinclined to heed the cries of these few. 
Our work was not then so well established that I 
could offer, as I did later when threats were made to 
appeal a matter of discipline to Synod, not only to 
direct the malcontents in the proper course to be 
pursued, but to assist them in preparing the necessary 
papers. This was done not in a scoffing spirit, but 
with the sincere purpose of giving opponents every 
reasonable opportunity of being heard. My offer 

201 



&totg Of 9®v %iti 



was never accepted, and thus the double trouble was 
spared me of formulating a complaint against my- 
self and defending myself against it. Probably I 
would have continued to perform the duties to which 
I had been called in the Delaware charge, even if my 
license had not been renewed. The call was valid, 
and I could recognize no authority to invalidate a 
call which I knew to be divine; and if Synod was 
ready to admit that my ministerial functions were 
valid for three years without ordination, according to 
its own admission they would continue to be valid for 
years to come. It was a pitiful business, that absurd 
license system, and it soon died without much contro- 
versy as a practice inconsistent with accepted prin- 
ciples. 

Of a piece with the license system was the dis- 
tinction between the Synod and the Ministerium. To 
the latter all the more important questions pertaining 
to doctrine and discipline and the ministry were re- 
ferred as to a higher court, in which only ordained 
ministers had a seat and vote, and from which ac- 
cordingly all who were merely licensed candidates, as 
well as all the lay delegates, were excluded. It was 
therefore only after I had been pastor three years 

that I had access to the sessions of the Ministerium. 

202 



fetorg of S£? %iiz 



I do not remember that this was regarded or felt as a 
humiliation. It certainly was not so intended by those 
who adopted the constitution, or rather who retained 
the arrangement to which the founders of our Synod 
had previously been accustomed. But it was wrong 
in principle and operated injuriously in practice. 
Synod had in 1848 adopted the symbolical books of 
the Evangelical Lutheran Church as its confession, 
and therefore stood pledged to maintain and defend 
the faith thus confessed. In this it was sincere, and 
it had no intention to adopt or retain usages known 
to be in conflict with its profession. As soon as it be- 
came apparent that the system of licensure violated 
rights which belong to the Christian congregation, it 
was abandoned. The Ministerium question was not 
so easily settled. It had become venerable, and the 
fathers, some of whom had become jealous of the in- 
fluence of the younger men, were loth to let it go. 
They did not claim that the common people had no 
right to a voice in questions of doctrine and of con- 
science, nor even that ministers are amendable only 
to ministers, and that the laity would be usurpers of 
authority which does not belong to them if they pre- 
sumed to sit in judgment on the clergy, whether in 

208 



&tot# ot 9£» %itt 



regard to the reception of applicants or the discipline 
of members. 

Remarks were made which implied such theories, 
but they were not distinctly formulated. The fact is 
that the subject was not clear, and the Ministerium 
was defended rather from veneration for an old cus- 
tom than from conscious adherence to a false prin- 
ciple. Under such conditions it is not strange that 
the doctrine of Church and Ministry became a burn- 
ing question among us. But it was the practical side 
that hastened the abandonment of the traditional 
arrangement. When a session of the Ministerium 
was called, it was expected that the lay-delegates and 
candidates should consider themselves dismissed and 
should leave the church, as was required of all mem- 
bers of the congregation. It was always painful 
when one or the other, not understanding the situa- 
tion, retained his seat. In some cases it was deemed 
necessary to request such innocent intruders to take 
their departure. Sometimes offence was taken at 
such apparent rudeness in the practice of privacy, and 
occasionally remarks of no kindly sort were made 
about secret meetings of men who professed opposi- 
tion to all secretism. Now and then too there were 
mutterings importing that old men who were sent as 

204 



Das iilmblcriiuii hco lltrsilirijcn 01 
CiUl|cti0ii]cu 0nnobcuou ©Ijio u. a, St 



inrumun; 



v* * i/Zr/L . / : /s < J- 



m 



i v r- 



icilanu J c emu 



*9K%5S'* 



v-.-rn 



Facsimile of Ordination Certificate Issued to Rev. M. Loy at Dayton, 
Ohio, Trinity Sunday, 1852. 



&torg tit S$P %tte 



delegates to Synod did not feel good over the invita- 
tion to leave when important matters of the Church 
were to be considered only by ordained ministers. 
The opponents of such special organization of the 
ministry, as distinguished from the synodical body, 
had the great advantage of having the sentiment of 
the lay-delegates on their side. This made it a neces- 
sary requirement of prudence, as well as of Christian 
faith and charity, to guard carefully against evils, 
which might easily result from the advocacy of peo- 
ple's rights. There was danger, on the one hand, of 
goading the people to a wild resistance of a tyranny 
exercised over them by denying them their divinely 
authenticated rights, and, on the other hand, of 
appearing to the opposition as mere mountebanks, 
who preyed upon the ignorance and credulity of the 
people. In either case the cause of right would have 
suffered. I do not think that any of the opponents 
of the "Ministerium" were revolutionary. For myself, 
I had endured the candidacy, and gone on with my 
work at Delaware as if nothing had happened at 
Synod. And I went on with my share of the work 
at Synod as if no difference had been made between 
candidates and pastors. As far as I can remember 
not the least effect was produced upon my sense of 

205 



fetor? of Sip? %iU 



duty and my zeal for the work in which I was en- 
gaged, by my ordination and my admission into the 
Ministerium. I was a minister before, and nothing 
was added, either in the objective reality or in the 
subjective consciousness, to the duties and obliga- 
tions of my call as pastor of the Delaware parish. 
Such power as I had was exerted against the wrong 
to the Church which was involved in the "Minister- 
ium" business, but it was always, so far as I can 
remember, with due respect to established custom and 
the veneration which our pioneers had for a custom 
which had no root in the Lutheran Church. Once, 
when it was proposed to make me President of the 
Western District, I peremptorily refused the office 
because I could not comply with the constitution 
requiring the calling of ministerial sessions. I de- 
clared that I could not and would not issue such a 
call, and that ended it. When an amendment to the 
constitution, promising to strike out the clauses 
which referred the most important work of synod to 
the "Ministerium" and thus denied to the laity some 
precious rights of Christians, was under discussion, 
I was confident of the support of the lay-delegates in 
the final vote, even though the majority of ministers 
should be against my contention. My teacher, Pro- 

206 



&tot# of $®y %itt 



fessor Lehmann, who usually stood as mediator be- 
tween the adherents of old customs and the new 
Lutheran life which had come into our synod, occu- 
pied the chair. He thought that he saw trouble com- 
ing, and concluded that it would be best to relegate 
the whole matter to the Ministerium. He accordingly 
so decided. Manifestly the decision was wrong, and 
I appealed, as I had a right to do, to synod for a 
righteous decision. He was a man of expedients, 
and refused to entertain the appeal, alleging that 
synod had no jurisdiction in a matter belonging to 
the Ministerium. Such proceedings could not fail to 
excite some feeling. With two other pastors I had, 
a few years before, when the constitution of synod 
was under revision and our effort to expunge the 
provisions for a Ministerium had failed in our Dis- 
trict, put a protest on record, in which our position 
was clearly defined and the declaration was distinctly 
made, that we could not consider ourselves bound by 
the objectionable paragraphs. Our warfare was open 
and candid, and no one had any ground to think our 
action revolutionary. It would not be so considered 
now, and it was not. We submitted to the defeat and 
worked on, fully convinced that right would win in 

the end, as it did; and my cordial relation to my 

207 



fetorp ot S$g JLiit 



teacher, who probably in the stress was not conscious 
of the full import of his stratagem, was not dissolved. 

During these protracted troubles, complicated by 
secret society discussions, a few ministers left the 
Synod; and some Missourians who little understood 
the situation and were unjust, and part of whom were 
manifestly fanatics, kept nagging at our work and 
our workmen, thus embarrassing the efforts of those 
who were laboring for greater consistency in Synod's 
practice. Some of the older men, whom my convic- 
tions compelled me to oppose, showed themselves 
better Christians under the unjust imputations and 
violent assaults of conceited Missourians than did 
their assailants, and it must be confessed that the 
inconsiderate and uncharitable acts of some of these 
men did much to hinder the more rapid progress of 
the truth promulgated in the publications of their 
leaders. 

The controversy on the Church and its Ministry, 
of which the question concerning licensure and the 
ministerium was a part, gradually became heated, and 
for a time threatened the very existence of our synod. 
No doubt its importance was better appreciated among 
us, and became more exciting because of these condi- 
tions and this application, thus enlisting the force of 

208 



&totg oi 3£g JLitt 



habit, and the reverence for time-honored usage, and 
the feelings engendered by violent assaults from with- 
out, in the theological war. This was by no means 
a mere war of words. It pertained to a subject in 
which interests of the whole Church of Christ were 
involved, and upon which in my estimation the very 
right of the Church of the Reformation to exist in the 
world was dependent. I write this long after the war, 
when all the influence of party feeling had passed 
away, as my mature judgment in a case that gave me 
much concern. It may be that the struggle would 
never have convulsed our Synod as it did, had it not 
been for the influences exerted from without. But that 
is a useless speculation. It might have been that the 
Ohio Synod, even after it had accepted the Confessions 
of the Lutheran Church, had gone on in its old ruts and 
been a unionistic corporation unto this day. I do not 
know and cannot, as is the case in the General Synod, 
tell what might have been. What I know is that God 
in His good providence led our fathers to accept the 
great Confession of the Reformation as their Confes- 
sion. What instrumentalities our Lord employed to 
bring the word of truth to the hearts of our fathers, 
I do not know. What I do know is that it was done 

and that God did it, whatever the instrumentalities 
14 209 



&iotp of 9®v titt 



may have been by which He accomplished it. The 
fact was that the synod had declared itself as an Evan- 
gelical Lutheran body accepting the Confessions of 
the Evangelical Lutheran Church as its own con- 
fession. So far the way was clear, if all that this 
involved was not clear to all the members of Synod. 
I was theologically educated under Professor 
Lehmann, whose learning was sometimes at fault and 
whose theological dicta were not always indisputa- 
ble. Perhaps in some respects my reading had led me 
beyond his scope, as with all his powerful intellect 
he was not disposed to extend his studies beyond the 
immediate requirements of his calling. In partial 
justification of his habit it may be said that his duties 
as prefossor and pastor left him little time for study. 
But the time was one that tried men's souls. My stu- 
dies led me into a conviction which he did not share. 
He was not a man to antagonize another member of 
synod with a perfectly clear declaration of war. We 
never so met each other with clanging shield and 
steel. He had studied theology, and was Lutheran 
in his faith and thinking, and was content to be 
Lutheran in his faith and thinking, and was content 
to be Lutheran if others were not, ever ready to con- 
fess his Lutheran faith, whatever others might choose 

210 



&tot£ ot 9$v %iit 



to confess or deny. I do not think that it would have 
worried him if I had leaned towards General Synod- 
ism as might from my antecedenets have been ex- 
pected. He did not, and that settled it. He would 
not have been my enemy on that account. I leaned 
toward Missourianism, as did our mutual friend Rev. 
Spielmann. He did not, but never dreamed of being 
an enemy of either on that account. Thus I grew to 
be an opponent of my teacher on many a point, with- 
out disturbing our friendly relations. He always 
regarded these differences as lying within the limits 
of our Lutheran Confession and not involving a 
breach of our fraternal relations. He had great re- 
sponsibilities resting upon him, and whilst he was 
heroic in expedients to prevent clashing, he was 
extremely cautious in choosing his course, and often 
moved so slowly that it seemed to many that he did 
not move at all. In the estimation of many members 
of synod he was therefore of the old regime, and 
sacrificed his power of leadership to the interests of 
peace. I had had no part in getting the Ohio Synod 
into the hierarchical and yet unionistic rut which was 
in its weakness, and had no motive in feelings of 
reverence for established customs to sacrifice the 

Lutheran convictions which had become a power in 

211 



mtm 0t ®$v %tu 



my soul. I was not a conservative in that limited 
sense, but became more and more, as I studied more 
and thought more and prayed more, a conservative in 
regard to the old Lutheran faith and practice. I 
therefore did not move as slowly as my teacher in 
the endeavor to bring about a better state of things 
in the Ohio Synod, which would at the same time be 
in better accord with the confessional position already 
assumed. We always came together at last, but my 
teacher and friend, who did much towards keeping 
me within proper bounds, was not of a mind to take 
the initiative, and was therefore not always in the 
lead when Synod made a move forward. 

The Synodical work to which reference has thus 
far been made pertained to the Western District, to 
which my congregation belonged and of which I 
was a member. It may be necessary to explain, that 
the Ohio Synod is divided into different Districts, and 
that each of these has the decision in regard to the 
reception of members, who thus become members of 
the Joint Synod. To this are referred all subjects 
pertaining to the interests of all, and in this all the 
members have a voice. Accordingly it was in the Joint 
Synod that the doctrinal questions troubling the Dis- 

212 



fetor? of S$# %iit 



tricts had to be settled. And there my chief work was 
done. 

Soon after my acceptance of the pastorate at 
Delaware the project of enlarging our educational 
work, by establishing a college in connection with our 
Seminary, was assuming material form. We needed 
it and all approved it. Even the big notions that were 
embodying themselves in the project did not strike 
me as absurd. I was too much of a big-hearted boy 
for that. My imagination, which was never grand 
or glowing, although I sometimes indulged myself in 
writing rhymes, led me to hope great things in the 
not wholly illusory ways suggested. The object in 
view commended itself to my judgment as it did to 
the judgment of older and more experienced men, and 
Capital University came into the world with banners 
and trumpet. Even Professor Lehmann, who never 
allowed himself to be carried away by enthusiasm, 
was warm in his welcome of the improvement in our 
educational facilities, though as usual his wise coun- 
sel was for moderation and caution, which was by 
no means needless. The conception was too big for 
the conditions: the plan of the structure was out of 
proportion to the grounds on which it was to be 

erected. I did not see that, and others did not see 

213 



fetotp ot Slpg Hitt 



it. My old teacher saw it and doubted, but was moved 

on by the stream. Unquestionably Providence had 

opened the way for our Ohio Synod to do a glorious 

work in the cause of education for the Lutheran 

Church. Unhappily the main feature was too often 

left in the back-ground, that God had opened a way 

for promoting Christian education in the interest of 

the truth restored in the Lutheran Reformation. I 

am confident that none of the leaders in the movement 

had the remotest thought of harboring or promoting 

the idea of regenerating mankind by the light of 

science and philosophy and literature. I was not one 

of the leaders, but I think that I understood them, and 

believe that my suspicion of such underlying motives 

would wrong even the less earnest advocates of the 

principles for which the Ohio Synod had taken its 

stand. All that can justly be said is that a part of 

the zeal displayed was without knowledge. The 

leading men wanted a Christian College devoted to 

the interests of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, and 

in this I was heartily in accord with them. They 

looked around for the proper man to organize and 

conduct the new institution, and as they were always 

too modest to assume that such a man could be found 

among themselves, they were constrained to look 

214 



fetotg of 9®v JLitt 



beyond the bounds of our own synod. There was no 
one in the West of sufficient culture, who was in har- 
mony with us, to think of finding the right man 
there. By necessity their attention was turned to the 
East, and there all eyes were directed to Dr. Rey- 
nolds of Gettysburg. He had been professor there in 
the chief college of the General Synod, and had years 
of experience in the work of teaching. He had 
attained some eminence as a writer, and had a wide 
reputation for learning. His connection with the 
General Synod was no obstacle; for without any 
thought of coming to Columbus, he had begun a war- 
fare against the lax system of doctrine and practice 
which prevailed in his own ecclesiastical household. 
To carry on this contest he had established the "Evan- 
gelical Review," which was published at his home in 
Gettysburg, and which subjected him to much adverse 
criticism. This Review had been read among us, and 
caused much delight by the fact that such a thor- 
oughly equipped witness had come forward in de^ 
fense of the truth for which we were contending. He 
seemed to be the man for the place which we de- 
sired to fill. He was called, and he came. He was 
installed as President, the school was opened in a 
building on Town Street, his brother-in-law, Pro- 

315 



fetotg of flpp %iit 



fessor Essick, who was represented as in full har- 
mony with him, was called as Professor of Latin, a 
young man of good parts who had the promise of 
becoming a first-class teacher of mathematics, but 
who died before his mark was made, was added to 
the faculty, and later my old Harrisburg friend, Daniel 
Worley, was called to take the place of the departed 
Professor of Mathematics. The school was thus suf- 
ficiently equipped, and the building near Goodale Park 
was soon ready to receive it. The President was 
inaugurated and the new building was dedicated with 
much effort to enlist popular favor. One of the most 
eminent men of the country, who was far from being 
a Lutheran and probably had never heard of such a 
thing as Lutheranism in our land, made an English 
speech, which had little to do with our purpose, and 
Dr. Stohlmann of New York, delivered an address 
to engage the Germans in our cause. The whole busi- 
ness seemed to me a failure, especially as I was dis- 
couraged by the President's lack of skill in managing 
the public functions. But so far as I remember I said 
nothing. 

The work went on prosperously for a while, but a 
new trouble had been introduced into our Synod. Dr. 

Reynolds had grown up in a different atmosphere and 

216 



&tot# of 9£g %itt 



with other suroundings. He was a Lutheran of the 
kind still found among the more conservative men of 
the General Synod, but he had a different spirit from 
that which pervaded our people. This prevented com- 
plete cordiality from the start ; and as move after move 
was made that was not to our liking, doubts soon arose 
whereunto this would grow. Too much stress was 
laid on winning the favor of citizens who cared noth- 
ing for the Lutheran Church, but who were interested 
in general education and whose influence it was de- 
sired to utilize in behalf of the school. This as well 
as the inability of the faculty, with the exception of 
Prof. Lehmann, who held the chair of German, to 
converse readily in the German language, led the Pres- 
ident and Prof. Essick to move almost exclusively 
among English speaking people, especially as their 
families were English and could otherwise have little 
enjoyment of social life. Moreover, both from incli- 
nation and policy, they were desirous of bringing the 
Ohio Synod into the General Synod, and as at that 
time there was a strong movement elsewhere in that 
direction and influences were brought to bear upon us 
by the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, with which we 
had correspondence on the subject of a Liturgy, they 

had good opportunity to make known their desire. 

217 



&tot# ot 9$» %itt 



Even in the congregational affairs they managed to 
make some innovations to which some did not take 
kindly, if for no other reason than they did not want 
to follow what was called the fashion. 

Little by little the men from the East who had 
been called to organize and manage the new college, 
lost their influence, and before the University was 
fairly started in the fine building on North High Street, 
in which, too, not a little of the useful had been sac- 
rificed to architectural display, a rupture was immi- 
nent. The portion of our Synod that, like myself, re- 
garded the interests of the Church as paramount, used 
all fair means to protect these interests against any 
encroachments, even if these came from sources pro- 
fessedly operative in the honored cause of education, 
on the life and work of the Lutheran organization. 
Our leader was Prof. Lehmann, who was never ag- 
gressive, never disposed to take the initiative in any 
progressive movement, but always conservative and 
always alert. It was largely owing to his wise caution 
that our Seminary property was safe-guarded against 
any failure that might attach to our University project, 
and it is still a wonder to me that he ever consented 
to an organization of the institution under the man- 
agement of a board composed largely of persons who 



218 



fetotp of 9®V %itt 



did not even profess to have any interest in the Luth- 
eran Church, which our Synod designed it to serve. 
But somehow the mistake was made. Men who did 
not understand us or our conditions were called to con- 
duct the institution, and a directorate was appointed, 
many of whom did not understand them or us. And 
trouble came. Ostensibly it was the language ques- 
tion, really it was the Lutheran question that brought 
it about. 

With the inception of the University movement 
and the beginning of the work I had no responsible 
connection. I was then only a candidate, and therefore 
not in a position to have a voice in it. But I was con- 
sulted in the matter and heartily approved the project. 
In my frequent visits to friends in Columbus, nearness 
to whom I regarded as one of my chief advantages, 
we often talked about it. My heart was fully enlisted 
in the undertaking. My acceptance of the agency to 
secure money for the endowment of the Presidency 
and the German profesorship, evinces my profound 
interest in the work. It was no small sacrifice to leave 
a work in Delaware which was dear to my heart, and 
this just at a time when its success was about to be 
crowned by the building of a church that we could 
call our own, and to travel from congregation to con- 



219 



fetotg ot 9®y%itt 



gregation, preaching everywhere and soliciting funds 
for a work which only the intelligent could appreciate. 
But I was unmarried, and therefore could leave home 
more easily, than men of family, and a man whom I 
could trust was ready to act as my vicar in the con- 
gregation during my absence. So I started off in the 
summer of 1853, leaving my work at home in the care 
of Rev. P. Eirich. I think I may truly say that I en- 
tered upon my new mission in faith and hope and 
charity. No doubt an older and more experienced 
man could better have carried out my plan. I desired 
to do some good among the people as well as to secure 
some money for our general work, and I therefore 
always preached the Word and only afterwards solic- 
ited subscriptions. My work also gave me large oppor- 
tunities in conversation with our pastors to suggest the 
thoughts and feelings which actuated me and which 
might be helpful to them. For six months I continued 
this work, and it was not in vain in the Lord. A com- 
paratively large sum was subscribed, and I think some 
good was done in addition to these subscriptions. 
As I look back upon it now, the mistakes which I made 
were more in the accounts which I published of my 
rambles among the congregations than of my work 

there. I was sometimes impressed with the humor of 

220 



fetotg of 9£g %itt 



situations rather than with their unchurchly features, 

and wrote in a mood of gayety rather than of sadness, 

and of course, opinions differed about the propriety of 

some of my observations. After six months of toil 

and not infrequently of bodily suffering, I returned to 

my charge, which had been well cared for by Rev. 

Eirich, without regrets for the temporary absence. I 

had accomplished as much for the improvement of our 

finances as the conditions warranted, and I think that 

my half-year's intercourse with our people helped a 

little to support the claims of our Lutheran Church 

upon their loyalty and beneficence, and continued to 

bear fruit in after years, while the experience which I 

gathered was probably more than compensation for 

my loss in suspending my daily intercourse with 

books. 

Meantime the agitation in Synod about the spirit 

and management of our college continued, and became 

increasingly serious. The members of our English 

District grew loud in their complaints that equal rights 

were not accorded them with the Germans. There was 

not even a semblance of reason for this, as even more 

than their share of representation was given them in 

the boards. But the English District was compara- 

tivelv small, and there were three German Districts, 

221 



^torg of Q$v %iit 



at least two of which were larger than the English, 
and their aggregate membership was such as to leave 
the English District in a small minority, notwithstand- 
ing the care taken to give them as large a represen- 
tation as fairness to the other Districts admitted. But 
it was not the language question in itself that formed 
the subject of contention. There were many pastors 
of mixed congregations in the German Districts, who, 
like myself, were rather to be classed with the English 
District than the German, if mere facility in the use of 
either language were considered, and many of the 
delegates sent to our German Districts always spoke 
in English. That was really not the subject of con- 
tention, but only an incident. I would regard it as an 
injustice to Dr. Reynolds and his friends, if it were 
maintained that he proposed to make our Univer- 
sity, including the Seminary, entirely English. I 
would not say that even of Prof. Essick, who was a 
member of the English, while President Reynolds be- 
longed to the Western District. It was a curious 
alignment of forces when the crisis came. Those who 
were intent upon maintaining our confessional posi- 
tion and had no sympathy with any movement looking 
to a union with the General Synod, or anything tend- 
ing that way, even though they were not a unit in the 

222 



^torg of St£g %itt 



questions of church practice otherwise occupying the 
attention of Synod, were generally regarded as oppo- 
nents of the Reynolds management; the more liberal 
element that was inclined to unionism, was the party 
supporting him. As the latter party was mainly in 
the English District, and as the work of Dr. Reynolds 
and his friends was usually done through the medium 
of the English language and his labors were mainly 
directed to gain favor among the English people and 
solicit the interest of English Synods, while in the insti- 
tution itself his influence was principally directed 
toward the advancement of English interests, it natur- 
ally came to pass that the opposing parties were called 
the German and the English. The English District 
took up the matter and brought its complaint before 
Joint Synod. It was a complaint without substance. 
No overt action or wrong-doing was indicated, and no 
charge with specifications was made. But some of the 
English brethren were dissatisfied and became disaf- 
fected. I could see no cause for this save their failure 
to get others to see things as they saw them and feel 
about the course of events as they felt. Their griev- 
ance really was, that they were in a hopeless minority. 
Synod tried to appease them, but failed, as in the na- 
ture of things it must fail. There was no help for the 

223 



mm of s@g %ttt 



fact that the disaffected party was a small minority. 
Dr. Reynolds and Prof. Essick resigned. That relieved 
them of the trouble, but it only rendered their special 
adherents more determined in their hostility to the 
action of Joint Synod. Finally the latter body, at its 
meeting in 1854, resolved to send a committee to the 
next meeting of the English District to reason with 
the brethren there and endeavor to pacify them. All 
indications were that love's labor would be lost. Rum- 
ors had already been circulated in that District that 
our institutions were on the road to ruin, that the per- 
sons managing them and engaged as teachers were 
incompetent, and that any further effort to maintain 
them would be useless. A spirit of revolt had shown 
itself in a wild protest against the action of Synod at 
this session pertaining to the existing difficulties, in 
which it was stated as a grievance that the party rep- 
resented by Dr. Reynolds were not admitted to promi- 
nent places in our institutions, and as another that 
Joint Synod had shown no disposition to annul its 
resolutions regarding secret societies. It looked very 
much as if the opposition would be appeased only by 
the surrender on our part. Nevertheless Synod, in 
the exercise of Christian charity, resolved, in order to 

prevent a rupture, to leave nothing undone that could 

224 



fetotp of 9£p Kite 



be done without a sacrifice of Christian principle. The 
committee was appointed, and Prof. Lehmann and my- 
self were chosen for the unpleasant work. My old 
teacher had come to be a standing member of all com- 
mittees entrusted with difficult and disagreeable work, 
and I was fast becoming a standing second. Perhaps in 
one respect it was unwise to select him in this case, as 
he, with his usual alertness, had been the main force in 
safe-guarding our work against liberalistic and union- 
ists encroachments, although, with his usual caution, 
he had probably never led any movement in opposition 
to the Reynolds regime ; and when the latter had failed 
and a new arrangement was made, he, as the Seminary 
Professor before the establishment of our College and 
the chief member of the remaining Faculty after the 
resignation of the new regime, was chiefly blamed for 
the change. He was a persecuted man, and the charges 
of incompetency, hurled right and left, were concen- 
trated upon him. Nothing could better display the 
noble character of this devoted man than his consist- 
ently quiet conduct under such trials. Perhaps he saw 
that under the circumstances it would have been wiser 
to select another man for the difficult work, but he did 
not demur. My condition was such that there was no 

reason why I should be a person to whom the English 
15 225 



fetorp ot 9®v %itt 



District would object. I was born in America, spoke 
English even in preference to German, and was con- 
firmed in a church belonging to the General Synod. 
In some of the troubles then agitating the Ohio Synod, 
I was not in harmony with Prof. Lehmann. There 
was no reason apparent to me why I should decline to 
serve on the committee, as in the questions involved 
we were of one mind. The English District met at 
Wooster in 1855, on ty about six months after our ap- 
pointment. We were there, but the antipathy, perhaps 
it would be in exact accord with truth to say the bit- 
terness, against our Synod had reached such an ex- 
treme that we could not even get a hearing. We ac- 
complished nothing, because we were not even allowed 
to speak. Only a few members remained loyal to the 
Ohio Synod and dissented from the revolutionary pro- 
ceedings, when, in pursuance of its plan, the District 
resolved to go over to the General Synod and have 
nothing more to do with us. The impression I received 
has always seemed to me well summarized in my col- 
league's remark, when I referred to his well-worn 
school trousers as hardly respectable for such an occa- 
sion, that he had brought with him a better pair, but 
thought these good enough for such a crowd. 

Our College, crippled by these unhappy occur- 
226 



fetor? of $®v %iit 



rences, was in a precarious condition. Our income was 
not sufficient to warrant the calling of other men to fill 
the vacancies at a sufficient salary to insure a liveli- 
hood, and arrangements had to be made to tide over 
the period of distress. As Prof. Lehmann and Prof. 
Worley, who still remained of the old Faculty, were 
willing to go on with the work, with little regard to 
salary, and Brother Spielmann reluctantly consented 
to accept the Presidency in the interim, I offered to 
assist for a while in the teaching of such subjects as 
I thought I had sufficiently mastered. The Univer- 
sity had given me the honorary title of A. M. and I 
had done enough literary work to feel assured that, 
though it was a time when any blundering would be 
severely criticised, I could render some acceptable ser- 
vice in the trying period, until better and more perma- 
nent arangements could be made. Thus in addition 
to my work at Delaware I agreed to spend a few days 
each week at our school, teaching rhetoric and other 
English branches, and continuing the burdensome labor 
for about a year. Thus amid great difficulties of vari- 
ous sorts the institution was kept afloat on a troubled 
sea, and in His own good time our Lord, who was 
always with us and in whom we trusted, commanded 

the angry waves to be still. 

227 



fertotg of S$g %ltt 



But Synod's time of trouble was not past when 
our University had been saved from the wreck which 
threatened it. I was a member of the Board when the 
rupture came, and continued to be a member until 
I was called to a professorship and entered upon my 
work at Columbus in 1865, and I know how our souls 
were tried as only members of the Board could know 
it. Matters were in bad shape every way. Not only 
had enemies endeavored to excite prejudice against 
us in the city as narrow-minded foreigners and bigoted 
Lutherans, but our finances were in almost inextri- 
cable confusion. Our former President, who never had 
more money than he needed to carry on the work, 
had some unbusiness-like understanding with the 
Treasurer, the result of which was such that, after 
the President was gone, the accounts could not be 
satisfactorily explained. No reflection was cast upon 
the honesty of either, but the matter was embarrass- 
ing. The Seminary had some endowment funds, but 
somehow these had become so tied up that they were 
practically useless. Notwithstanding Prof. Lehmann's 
great caution even in financial affairs, that part of 
our work was loosely conducted, and I am not quite 
sure that even now, with all our sad experiences, our 

monies are fully secured in a way that would satisfy 

228 



fetotp ot apg feat 



cautious business men. I may say in passing that my 
reflections as well as my experience have led me to 
the conviction, that hoarding money is an evil, and that 
Christians, whether as individuals or corporations, 
should live in the daily exercise of their faith that God 
will provide, and thus be led each day to pray earn- 
estly for their daily bread. I was therefore opposed 
not only to secret societies, which in the best case only 
seem to usurp God's prerogative of providing for His 
people without regard to His own revealed plan of 
faith in Christ as embracing all things necessary for 
time and eternity, but to all efforts and societies, secret 
or open, that virtually constitute a human usurpation 
of divine Providence. So I still think, and the more 
my knowledge extends and my experience enlarges, 
the more damnable, from a Christian point of view, 
seem to me the human schemes, always originating in 
the flesh, to provide for man's welfare otherwise than 
God, who alone knows what is needed, has provided. 
I think that no sentimental appeals or arguments of 
human wisdom, which in its carnal root is always and 
necessarily opposed to the wisdom of God, can ever 
change these convictions as long as I remain a child 
of God which, trusting in the grace of Christ which 

has saved me with a great salvation, shall be for 

229 



fetotp o( 9®v %itt 



ever. Many a heartburn and many a nonplussed de- 
liberation, and many a sleepless night would have been 
spared our burdened Board of Directors, if the money 
which was contributed by our people could have been 
used, in the time of its trouble, for the support of its 
work, as the contributors designed that it should be. 
In my poverty I had subscribed and with much self- 
denial had paid money towards the endowment of the 
presidency: how could I fail to feel, when in our 
dire distress one-fifth of that sum would have provided 
the necessaries of life, at least for a week, to our pro- 
fessors, and we dared not touch it. Prof. Lehmann 
was inured to hardships and never complained; in- 
deed he had least reason to complain, as he had a large 
congregation which was well able to support him. 
Bro. Spielmann knew how to make five dollars go a 
great way, and he had lived before he was made 
President, and could live still, though he got little; 
but Prof. Worley and the two others who were em- 
ployed as teachers had no income but that which the 
University supplied. But God always helped us. Our 
worry was great, but it was needless. Looking back 
upon it now, it seems to me that we cared too much 
and trusted too little and that we worried too much 

and prayed too little. But the care of the institution 

230 



&totp of $®v %iit 



was laid upon us, and as God ordinarily works through 
human means, we could not as Christian men abandon 
the work under the plea that it was God's work and 
He could manage it. We were His servants and saw 
the need of doing what we could, and saw also the 
unfaithfulness implied in any such thought as that of 
running away when the conflict came. That would 
have meant a disgraceful surrender to the foe. We 
therefore labored on under many embarrassments and 
discouragements, and even in the darkest days refused 
to entertain the thought of failure. The idea of doing 
great things gradually faded from the minds of those 
who had entertained it, and the purpose to do the 
Lord's will, though it should be through evil report, 
continually waxed stronger ; and the Board gradually 
became reconciled to the day of small things, which 
naturally as well in the court of reason as in that of 
faith, should have been in the beginning, was now 
upon us. The beautiful bubble blown by human wis- 
dom had burst, but the will of the Lord remained 
the same, and His disciples had the grace to follow 
it through the valley of humiliation, which was the 
way of ultimate success. 

It was a hard road for us to travel, but I never 

regretted the sacrifice which it cost to make Capital 

231 



fetorp of $®v %itt 



University what it is now, and what I am sure God 
designed to make it. My prayer now is that God will 
move the hearts of my brethren in the present genera- 
tion to go on in the same course of contention for 
His truth, as confessed in the great Reformation, that 
our sacrifices may not prove to have been in vain. 
By the secession of our English District we were 
rid of the party which was not in harmony with the 
spirit of the Lutheran Church. Outwardly we suffered 
much by the apostasy, but inwardly we gained much 
more than we had lost. But not all the opponents 
of the more consistent Lutheranism which had come 
into our Synod were members of that District. A 
liberalistic element still existed among us. Even the 
Mason, Rev. A. Henkel, notwithstanding our warfare 
against Masonic Deism and humanitarianism that 
recognized no need of grace for the exercise of true 
charity, continued to be a protesting member of our 
Synod. Some of the pioneers who were still with us, 
and among whom he was recognized as a leader, 
sympathized with him and took his part. A member 
of the faculty of our University, my old friend who 
had helped me to get a start in the comprehension of 
the Greek language and who had been called to the 

chair of Mathematics, but had not gone with Dr. 

232 



fetotg of 9$v &iit 



Reynolds when the crash came, became the leader of 
the opposition. He was a man to whom I was warmly- 
attached as a personal friend in my youth, and whose 
genial disposition always attracted me. He was an 
old and congenial friend, from whom all my natural 
inclinations forbade me to part. But he went wrong, 
and I could not go with him. While he always pro- 
fessed to be of one mind with us in our opposition 
to secret societies, he became the special advocate of 
Pastor Henkel in his warfare against the Synod. 

When the English District turned its back upon 
us and went over to the Unionistic General Synod, 
we still had a comparatively large number of congre- 
gations that were predominantly English, and the 
question of forming a new English District was soon 
agitated and decided in the affirmative. In 1857 a 
new English District was organized. It was soon 
apparent that our opponents flocked together there 
under the leadership of Prof. Worley, who was a good 
teacher of Mathematics, and had all the shrewdness 
that would have made a good lawyer, but who had no 
deep understanding of the righteousness which is by 
faith of Jesus Christ and of the liberty which this 
brings. Nearly all the pioneers, although they were 
predominantly German, entered the new District. It 

233 



fetotg of 9®t %iit 



was from the start a place of refuge for the dis- 
affected of our Synod. 

Of course new troubles came, and it need hardly 
be stated that I was involved in their toils. The con- 
flict about the Church and ministry, which had not 
been forgotten in the contention about other matters, 
but rather contributed to the alignment of our forces 
and to its sharpness, continued with little abatement, 
though ever approaching nearer a satisfactory solu- 
tion of the problem before us. The positions of influ- 
ence were held by men who were not favorable to 
my contention, as our German organ was edited by 
the conservative Prof. Lehmann and the English by 
the radical Prof. Worley. But before I was called to 
Columbus, without any aspirations or machinations of 
mine, I had become President of the Joint Synod in 
i860 and continued in that office from year to year, 
and had become editor of the Standard in 1864. This 
afforded me no little advantage in the promotion of 
the cause to which I was devoted. However another 
part of my story should be told before I proceed 
further in this line. 



234 



CHAPTER VI. 

HOME. 

THERE was no other choice for me, when I took 
charge as a young man at Delaware, but to 
live as a boarder among strangers. My income was 
not sufficient to justify even the thought of taking a 
room at one of the hotels, and I had no desire to 
do this even if I had been supplied with means. It 
may be a debatable question whether an unmarried 
pastor should seek a home in a family belonging to 
his congregation. It was not with me, and my ex- 
perience did not change my opinion. In the first three 
months I found comfortable accommodations with a 
family at the edge of town, but afterwards accepted 
the offer of a well-to-do farmer to give me a furnished 
room with boarding at rates so reasonable that I 
could save a portion of my little salary for the pur- 
chase of books. It was three miles from town, but 
I was a good walker and did not lay much stress on 
the inconvenience. The front room on the lower floor 
was given me, where I could be alone with my God 

and my books, and which was easy of access to people 

235 



httftv of $®V Hilt 



who desired to see me. The farmer had but one child 
and she was married and lived in an adjoining house, 
so that there were no children to disturb me. I loved 
the country and was delighted with my situation. 

Of course there were some draw-backs. The 
walk to town was no hardship to me. That much daily 
exercise was desirable on sanitary grounds. But the 
members of my congregation did not all live in town, 
and when the homes which I thought it needful to 
visit were miles away in an opposite direction, it was 
not so easy to reach them. Moreover, what was no 
trouble to me was a trouble to many of my parish- 
ioners. I was too far away when they desired to con- 
sult me; it was too difficult to call me when they 
wanted me, as the telephone was not then known. 
Every two weeks I had the other part of my charge 
to visit, and sometimes also pastoral duties made visits 
there necessary in the interval. For such work I was 
compelled to hire a horse. This made my place of 
residence an unquestionable inconvenience. Part of 
this difficulty was overcome by my purchase of a 
horse. Since my boyhood's misfortune in hauling 
bricks at Harrisburg, I had no inclination to have any- 
thing further to do with horses. But the necessity 
was laid upon me of getting to the church at Prospect, 



236 



fetotg of 9$v Hilt 



and later to that near Norton, and I knew of no way 
but that of hiring a horse and riding thither. Mine 
were kindly people, if their kindness did not take the 
form of providing for my transportation, and I never 
heard of their laughing at my riding or impeding my 
work by their ridicule. I did not know much about 
horseback riding, but I could learn. No doubt I was 
shamefully timorous in my first efforts. I still remem- 
ber how, when I was to ride between a noisy threshing 
machine and a river embankment and my horse shied, 
I appealed to one of the threshers to lead my horse 
past the machine, and received the answer that I 
should go on and the horse would not be such a fool 
as to plunge to his death in the river. My little learn- 
ing in zoology had never reached that far. I sup- 
posed that my horse, frightened by the clatter of the 
machine, would be fool enough to plunge with his 
rider over the embankment. I used my whip, and the 
horse passed by in perfect safety. It was my stupidity, 
not that of the horse, which made me so cowardly. 
But I could learn, and never was coward enough to 
shrink from duty when I was sure that the obstacles, 
real or imaginery, were in the path where duty led. 
I needed a horse and I purchased one to supply the 

need. A member of the Prospect congregation had a 

237 



fetorp of 9£g JLite 



colt that he could spare, and as he was aware of my 
need proposed to sell it to me at a price that all who 
knew anything of the matter considered very low. As 
he was not in immediate need of the money, he offered 
to wait for it until I should find it convenient to pay. 
My host, whose charges for lodging and boarding were 
already merely nominal, offered to board the horse 
without additional charge. I purchased it, and so was 
better equipped for my work. 

It was a peculiar animal that I had bought. She 
was of good stock, and the young people had used her 
for racing purposes. She was three years old and full 
of life, but gentle of disposition. I brought her home 
and used her, and according to agreement made with 
my host, attended to her wants. This too I had to 
learn, but the instruction of an old farmer was ade- 
quate to the enlightenment of my ignorance. It re- 
quired much experience to manage such a spirited 
beast, but I persevered and became an expert in horse- 
manship who had no reason to be ashamed among the 
masters. My ten years' experience with "Bonny" con- 
vinced me that I had one of the best horses in the 
country, and that I could compete with any rider of 
horses that reared and kicked and plunged, but that 



&tot{? of 9£# %\il 



were withal kindly. Bonny never hurt me, though 
she was generally pronounced vicious and unsafe. 

But my possession of a horse did not make it 
easier for my people to consult me at my country 
home. The matter came to a crisis when I was 
attacked by a serious form of dysentery. The physi- 
cian pronounced my case critical. The people with 
whom I boarded had the impression that my disease 
was contagious, and although the good lady of the 
house furnished me with all that was necessary, she 
as well as her husband avoided all intercourse with 
me that they thought unnecessary. My physician 
thought that I was not receiving due attention and so 
reported to a member of my congregation. I suppose 
the stubbornness of the disease, which persistently 
refused to yield to his treatment, led him to such a 
course. Certainly I did not receive such nursing as 
is given at hospitals, and probably if I had had better 
care my system would have responded better to his 
medicines. But there was no hospital at Delaware, 
and flux is often difficult to overcome. It is a dis- 
ease, moreover, which in those days not only induced 
people as much as possible to shun contact with the 
patient, but also induced modest and shrinkingly sen- 
sitive patients to shun company. As I still had 

239 



fetorg of 9®v %itt 



strength enough, when my room was supplied with 
all that was needed and everything made easy of 
access, to help myself, I was glad to be left most of 
the time alone. My room was kept in a reasonably 
sanitary condition, and I was content. But as the 
physician deemed more attention requisite the officers 
of the congregation took measures to secure it, and 
one evening two brethren came to wait upon me. It 
was more of an embarrassment than a comfort to 
me, and they became convinced that I was right in 
not desiring their constant presence, seeing that they 
could do nothing to relieve me, that in an emer- 
gency the people of the house would respond to my 
call, and that if matters became worse and the need 
really came, I could have them notified. The need, 
as I conceived it, did not come, though the disease 
continued to harass me for five or six weeks, with 
intervals of improvement and relapse, and for many 
weeks more in the emaciated debilitation which re- 
sulted. I had faced the prospect of death before and 
was not frightened. God had always dealt with me in 
superabundant mercy, and it seemed to me then, and it 
seems to me now in even more exalted form, that He 
meant to deal with me graciously beyond all I could 

ask or think. By His grace I was as little afraid of 

240 



&totv of 9pg %iii 



work as I was of death, and I accordingly went to 
work when physicians, many of whom know so deplor- 
ably little of God's government of the universe in 
which they live, pronounced it death to undertake it. 
Once, at a somewhat later period, when I was pros- 
trated by an acute attack of stomach trouble and suf- 
fered intense pain, I told my physician on Saturday 
that it was my purpose to preach on the morrow, he 
not only sought to dissuade me from such an irra- 
tional dream, but finally warned me that in his delib- 
erate judgment to-morrow would end my life if I per- 
sisted in my folly. I persisted in what seemed to me 
wisdom, preached to my congiegation, did some good 
and felt good over it, and got well. Once, still later, 
when in 1853 I was acting as agent for Capital Uni- 
versity, my appointments were made at a place where 
one of our pioneers and one of my school-mates had 
adjoining charges, and both lived in the same town, 
I took sick of a fever after preaching in my school- 
mate's charge. On my sick-bed at his house I heard 
that the older pastor had uttered his complaint that 
we young men had banded together and that my 
professed inability to fill the appointment in his con- 
gregation, which was next in order, confirmed his sus- 
picion that we cared nothing for the fathers but desired 
16 241 



fetotg ot 9®t %iti 



and designed to crowd them out. I cancelled my post- 
ponement of the appointment, sent information to the 
pastor that I would be there, arose from my bed of 
sickness, and preached and returned to my bed. I 
did not die, as physicians might have predicted, and 
the only evil result experienced was the fear that in 
my fever I may have said something that was not in 
exact accord with my text. As far as I can remember 
my long conflict with dysentery caused the largest 
interruption of my work during the whole time of 
my ministry. But as far as it was physically possi- 
ble, I even then continued my labors at intervals, 
once even attending and preaching at a funeral in 
that time of sickness, though missing five Sundays of 
regular service. That funeral might have ended in 
the funeral of the preacher, but it did not. I seemed 
a candidate for death when I first entered the pulpit 
at Delaware, and my congregation was not surprised 
when I appeared again on the pulpit with a sicklier 
look than I had worn during the years past. My peo- 
ple had become accustomed to my bodily weakness, 
and had learned to appreciate the power of will that 
went far towards concealing it. 

The inconvenience of my living in the country, 

delightful as this was to me, and conducive to study 

242 



fetotp of 9®y %itt 



for the benefit of my people as it was, thus became 
more manifest. Taking a wife and establishing a 
home of my own in town would have been a natural 
suggestion. A dear friend of mine, who also became 
a minister of the gospel, often discussed this subject 
with me. He was determined to marry as soon as he 
saw any prospects of supporting a family, however 
humbly, and maintained that a minister of the gospel 
could do his work better in every way if he is a mar- 
ried man. I could not deny that in many respects 
he was right, but influenced by my passion for books 
and the advantages of privacy for the pursuit of stu- 
dies, as well as by some consideration of pastoral pru- 
dence, I was long in doubt. 

An opportunity offered to secure a boarding place 
in town. This dispelled my doubt. After living two 
years in the country, it seemed a little difficult to 
adapt myself to the limitations imposed by city life, 
but it had its compensations, and I was soon at home 
again in my new quarters. I had a good room with 
a pleasant Christian family, and all the privileges 
that I desired, and as there was a stable on the lot 
for my "Bonny," I thought myself well fixed again. 

And so I undoubtedly was. My income had in- 
creased sufficiently to meet the additional expense. I 

243 



&tot$ of 99j? %iit 



was near the church, which was a great convenience, 
especially for meetings in the evening, was in the 
center of the congregation and thus of easier access 
to all the members, and could save some valuable 
time in making pastoral visits. I do not reckon the 
social features of town life as a great advantage. The 
greater freedom and quiet of the country was better 
both for health and for study. For society outside 
of the church I cared nothing, finding all that I needed 
and all that I desired, so far as the gratification of 
social instincts was concerned, in connection with my 
pastoral work. I did not seek relaxation in places of 
amusement, not only because they were little to my 
taste, but also because they seemed to me mostly 
improper resorts for a pastor, who had indeed the 
same liberty as any other Christian, but who must, 
because of the greater influence of his example, feel 
bound to use it with greater circumspection. Occa- 
sionally I heard a public lecture or a concert, but 
always was careful not to go where my example 
might mislead the unwary. Shows of all sorts I 
avoided, and was never enticed into sanctioning them 
by the vain pretense that they were in the service of 
the church or of charity. Busy as I was among my 

own people and such as desired to join them, to others 

244 



fetotp ot 9®v Hilt 



I probably appeared to be living the life of a recluse. 
My pleasant study and my books were dearer to me 
than street-corner discussions and drawing-room gos- 
sip. 

But after several years of life in this pleasant 
room and pleasant town in the house of a family that 
was congenial and never failed in efforts to give me 
a pleasant home, thoughts of establishing a home of 
my own became more and more urgent. At first it 
was a mere suggestion that I could "better myself/' 
and gradually my old opinion that a pastor could do 
better work in celibacy was undetermined. My expe- 
rience had not disproved it. But nature asserted itself, 
and I resolved to marry a wife and set up a home of 
my own. My hostess, to whom it was necessary to 
reveal my thought, because it affected her arrange- 
ments in the household, encouraged my thought. I 
was now 25 years old, and it was not too early to 
marry. I was not in any way entangled in previous 
alliances. In that respect I was perfectly a free man 
when I came to Delaware and remained perfectly 
free until the time when the resolution was formed to 
seek a wife. I was not unsocial in my nature, and 
was never averse to association with ladies. As a 

mere boy I had formed friends among them at Harris- 

245 



fetorp of 9£p %itt 



burg; and many evidences were given me that my 
company was always acceptable. More than that, to 
my great surprise a number of incidents showed that 
I was a favorite in the social circle in which I moved. 
At a social gathering one of the most intelligent and 
witty of the company answered yes to the question 
whether she would marry me, and one of the company 
who was somewhat versed in law declared that we 
were wedded. Neither she nor I was ready for such 
a verdict, and we all resented it. But it was she, a 
worthy and w r itty lady, who kept up a correspondence 
with me even until I became pastor at Delaware. 
Then it ceased, because I had no intention to marry; 
and I had no blame. During my student life at Co- 
lumbus I was often in the company of ladies, though 
I am not aware that I sought it beyond the require- 
ments of duty to my church and its work and asso- 
ciations. But sexes seek companionship, and events 
occurred in such association which were not free from 
the influence of sex. A daughter of one of my bene- 
factors, at whose house I was always welcome and 
where I often visited in my vacations, and where I 
received many a comfort during the w r eary days of 
my paralysis, was especially intent on supplying my 

wants, and once intimated that she would be glad to 

246 



fetotg ot 9&g Hilt 



share my fortunes for all time, and, when I pointed 
to my condition, she declared that she could wait. I 
was not in a condition to encourage any hopes, but 
her kindness to the invalid student continued una- 
bated. 

Upon a visit to Harrisburg in 1852, when I 
preached to the congregation in which I was confirmed 
and received some flattering commendations, the 
younger sister of a lady whom I had formerly met 
and admired, but even more attractive in person and 
wit, was in some way brought much into my com- 
pany, which I am sure that I enjoyed as much as 
she. But I had no thought of securing a wife, and 
never left on her such an impression. On many an 
occasion, at Synods and other gatherings, I noticed 
that especial care was taken to bring me into com- 
pany with girls of a marriageable age. I think that 
I always deported myself as a Christian gentleman, 
but never subjected myself to the charge of unfaith- 
fulness to any lady, though it is possible that I some- 
times violated the rules of an etiquette that I did not 
understand. When the conviction settled itself upon 
my mind that I should take the serious step of marryr 
ing a wife, I was therefore free from all trammels, 
and could make my choice without any fears of vkn 

247 



fetotg of Stpp Hilt 



lating previous engagements. During the years of 
my life as pastor at Delaware I had not, so far as I 
knew, given any one either inside or outside the pale 
of the church, the least intimation that I desired a 
wife, least of all that this or that particular person 
was desired. There were young ladies of my con- 
gregation, and a few others with whom I became 
casually acquainted, who may have thought of such 
a thing as marriage and made me a conspicuous per- 
son in such thoughts, but I was not aware of it, if 
such was the fact. I moved without embarrassment 
in families where there were eligible daughters, and 
I conversed with them freely as catechumens and 
communicants, but never otherwise than as pastor, or 
at most as friend, unless occasional walks with them, 
as with their parents, were to be regarded as excep- 
tions. I did sometimes like to take strolls through the 
lanes and woods of the country homes of my parish- 
ioners, and to take walks in the evening time to the 
sulphur springs in the college campus at Delaware 
and enjoy fresh draughts of the sparkling water; and 
it would be as untrue as it would be unnatural to say 
that these strolls and walks were less pleasant because 
there were ladies in the company, or because ladies 

alone, especially young ladies alone, which was of rare 

248 



fetorp of S$p %ite 



occurrence and never otherwise than accidental, 
formed the company. To the best of my knowledge 
I had never given any girl the least cause to suspect 
that I desired to win her for my wife. 

This is not meant as a declaration that I had 
never thought of such a thing. I did sometimes 
think of it, and when I seriously thought of taking a 
wife my mind was not a perfect blank as regards eli- 
gible persons. I was in love with nobody ; I had been 
drawn into no entangling alliances, I had consciously 
done nothing that could reasonably lead to painful 
disappointments : I was entirely untrammeled in 
making a choice, and had a large circle of acquaint- 
ances from which to make it. 

The large number of friends that I had made, 
among whom there were many young ladies well 
qualified for wifehood, might seem to have rendered 
such a choice difficult. It did not. There was in my 
first class of catechumens a girl whom I had parti- 
cularly admired for her unassuming piety and modest 
ways, as well as for her aptness to learn. She was 
beautiful withal, though a maiden of only 14 summers. 
I had not forgotten her in the years that had inter- 
vened. She was still a regular communicant in my 
congregation, and as such I had frequent occasion to 



249 



fetorp oC Q$v %itt 



meet her as I met other members of the church. Her 
parents were among the best and most influential of 
these, and their children were an honor to their par- 
ents, all of them heartily devoted to our work. As 
they lived on a farm five miles away from town and 
I had thought of establishing a branch congregation 
in that neighborhood, and to this end occasionally 
preached in a union church near by, I visited their 
home oftener than most other families. I am not 
aware that these visits occasioned much remark. 
There were other families which I frequently visited 
in which there were marriageable daughters, to one 
or two of which the exigencies of my work led me 
more frequently than to the farm-house mentioned; 
and now and then gossip suggested reasons other than 
official duty or convenience for performing it, but my 
reasons were so apparent that to my knowledge em- 
barrassing rumors never became current. I still con- 
gratulated myself that my work was never injured from 
such a source. I tried to be courteous in all my deal- 
ings with the ladies of my congregation, married or 
single, but always kept in mind that I was their pas- 
tor, and studiously avoided everything that might 
induce them to forget it. I think now that those who 

interested themselves most in matters of this kind 

250 



fetotp of Sp? %ite 



fancied, that, if I had any matrimonial project in 
mind, which was not apparent, its aim was the elder 
sister of the girl of my choice. With her I was 
sometimes, though very rarely, left alone in the par- 
lor, but so far as I can remember, this never occur- 
red with the younger girl who became my wife. She 
could speak to me as her pastor, but the thought of 
meeting me alone in her home was evidently abhor- 
rent to her shy and shrinking nature, neither was it her 
place, as a younger member of the family, to entertain 
visitors at the house. 

When my resolution was taken and I looked around 
for a suitable wife, my heart turned to that country 
girl, who from the first had impressed me so favorably. 
I was not deterred by the fear of troubles arising in 
the congregation on account of marrying one of its 
members. I had heard and read about such dangers, 
but they influenced me little. I was confident that a 
pastor who faithfully performs his duty and exercises 
due discretion, has little to fear from such a source. 
Accordingly I determined to see the coy maiden alone, 
if possible, and have a heart to heart talk with her. 
I found this by no means easy, because my visits to 
the family had never been designed for her alone and 

I was never left alone with her. Indeed, it greatly 

251 



^totg ot S$» %ite 



taxed my ingenuity to secure a private interview with 
her without revealing my purpose, and probably my 
scheming made this purpose as palpable as if I had 
blurted out my business. Finally I did succeed, by 
some maneuvering, to separate her from the rest of 
the company in an evening stroll, and we wandered 
through the fields and woods homeward alone. It was 
embarrassing to her, but it was my opportunity. I told 
her of my purpose to devote my life to the work of the 
ministry, whatever hardships it might bring; that I 
desired to do what our Lord would require and go 
whither He sent me; that I was lonely; would she 
share my destiny, though it were in poverty and low- 
liness all our days; would she go with me even if it 
pleased my dear Lord to send me far away from home 
and friends as a missionary to a benighted land ? She 
did not, as might have been expected, talk about the 
suddenness of the proposal and ask time to consider. 
She simply leaned her head on my breast and answered 
Yes. 

She was not eighteen yet, and there was no hurry 
for the marriage. We talked the matter over and 
agreed, her father and mother consenting, that she 
should attend the Ladies' Seminary at Granville yet 

for a while. Our engagement was not much noised 

252 



fetorg ot 9®v Effe 



about, and was probably known to few ; and my work 
went on as usual, care being taken on my part to do 
nothing that would give occasion for gossip, from 
which I always shrank. Quietly we went our way at- 
tending to our duties, but not forgetting to make nec- 
essary arrangements for the wedding. This took place 
publicly in our church on Christmas, 1853. My wife 
and I partook of the Holy Supper after the marriage 
ceremony, and then went home. There were no in- 
vited guests and there was no marriage feast. After 
a wedding trip of a week or two we went as boarders 
to my old quarters, I pursuing my accustomed duties 
and my wife, who was not in her accustomed surround- 
ings, trying to find something to do and adapt herself 
to her new position. 

She did not like the boarding arrangement. It 
evidently did not lie in her conception of a wife that 
she should be a mere ornament in the house, and espe- 
cially not in a house of which she was not mistress. 
I think that if her parents had not lived so near to 
Delaware and had not been members of my congrega- 
tion, she would have pined away with homesickness. 
As it was she could meet her people on Sundays at 
church, and was of easy access to them at any time, 

as my Bonny and my buggy were always at her ser- 

253 



fetotp ot 9$v %IU 



vice, if she would undertake, when I could not go, to 
drive a horse that would kick and caper and plunge 
rather than let any other driver pass. She visited her 
old home often and at last revealed to me that she was 
not happy in her present quarters, but desired a home 
of her own. She was right. A pastor that is married 
has no business to be boarding, except in cases of 
emergency. It is rightly presumed that his marriage 
means, both for him and his wife, that he will establish 
a home of his own. I accordingly rented four rooms 
in a house which a member of my congregation had 
built for a family residence, but whose wife had died 
before it was ready for occupancy. Although he was 
resolved to keep his little family together and still 
occupy the house, which had four rooms on one side 
of the hall and five rooms on the other, he concluded 
that he could now easily spare the one side of the 
building, and I was glad to get it. Her parents gave 
my wife sufficient dowry to furnish these rooms com- 
fortably, and so we moved into our own hired house 
and set up housekeeping for ourselves. 

We were nicely settled now. But we used the 
hall in common, and the proprietor's children some- 
times were an annoyance, and his housekeeper's share 

of the work to keep clean the part which we used in 

254 



Motv ot 9®v %ttt 



common was not always done to the satisfaction of my 
wife, who was scrupulous and exacting in regard to 
cleanliness. Then our side of the house had no kitchen, 
which in her estimation was a great desideratum. In 
August of 1855, more than a year and a half after our 
marriage, God in His goodness gave us a child. We 
were happy in the gift, and as soon as possible devoted 
him to the Lord with the name of Luther. Then. more 
than ever the wife and mother longed for a home that 
she could rightfuly call her own and in the manage- 
ment of which no one beside ourselves should have any 
rights or any authority. Our landlord had been fair 
and generous, and I experienced no trouble but such 
as a poor man must expect in a world of trouble. But 
Mary argued that a cottage of two rooms under our 
own control would be better than a lordly mansion 
under the control of others. She had no high aspira- 
tions, did not wish to be some great one in the town, 
but did wish to be mistress in the management of her 
own house. That was reasonable, and I would not 
have been the Christian husband and father that I 
always sought and prayed to be, if I had not assented 
to its reasonableness. But some things were plain to 
my eyes which were evidently not plain to her. She 

wished me to buy a little house of our own, however 

255 



&totp of ®$v %itt 



lowly it might be. It was a good idea, but I had no 
money and had no prospect, at an income which had 
indeed been growing and had reached about $500 per 
annum, to being able to spare a dollar from necessary 
expenses. But reason has little power against will, and 
I finally yielded to the solicitations of a wife whose 
every reasonable wish I endeavored to gratify, but also 
to the advice of friends, who argued that the only way 
in which poor people could ever acquire property was 
to make debts. 

There was a little frame house a square from 
where we lived, which was badly out of repair and 
which the owner was anxious to sell. The price was 
very low and the terms exceedingly favorable. The 
owner offered to sell it to me for $800 and accept a 
payment of $100 per annum. I bought it and fixed it 
up at a cost of about $200. It made a modest little home 
of which we could well be proud. So neatly and taste- 
fully did we succeed in arranging the yard around the 
cottage that one of our neighbors, an attorney, who 
was also an amateur gardener, complimented me with 
the remark that I had increased the value of property 
on our whole square by 50 per cent. I soon learned 
the art of gardening and delighted in it. We worked 

together in the cottage and garden, and in our humble 

256 



fetorp ot Stpg %ite 



way made a beautiful home, which in right and reason 
was a joy to us. But the property had to be paid for, 
and I had to learn a hard lesson of economy. Neces- 
sity compelled me to save in ways which were some- 
times not in accord with my dear Mary's tastes and 
wishes. I do not think that she had counted the cost 
as I had done. Perhaps if she had, she would not have 
been so persistent in her effort to secure a home of our 
own. Perhaps if I had to do it over again I would 
resist all importunities in that direction, though it is 
largely, perhaps entirely owing to those hardships of 
long ago that we have a comfortable home of our own 
now in our old age. My income steadily increased a 
little, but before the whole debt was paid our family 
also increased, God giving us another boy, Matthias, 
in 1857, an d a girl, Mary, in i860. Moreover, after 
we had been in our own house about two years my 
charge had become large enough to be divided, so that 
my whole time could be devoted to the home congrega- 
tion, which limited my support to Delaware. For a 
year or two this reduced my income, although even 
in this respect the additional labor expended resulted 
in gain. The debt, trifling as it might seem to a man 
even of moderate means in these times, weighed heavily 
upon me. I had just sufficient income to support my 



17 257 



&totg ot 9®t %itt 



family, and of this I had to reserve enough to pay the 
annual installment with the interest on the debt. To 
do this was a trying task, and when I had to withhold 
what my wife needed and pleaded for, I do not wonder 
that my conduct seemed almost cruel, while I am quite 
sure it was a cruel burden for me to bear. The grace 
of God, which never failed me in any trouble, still 
enabled me to go on in the performance of my minis- 
terial duties, and all went well in the congregation. 
And that is not all. By the same goodness of our 
Heavenly Father which sustained me in my work as 
pastor, we passed safely through the troubles which 
beset us in our efforts, wise or otherwise, to secure a 
home of our own. Poverty pinched us, but we main- 
tained our respectability and paid our debt. The mort- 
gage was cancelled and we were free, and that even 
some time before the last payment was due. 

We were now in a position to enjoy more of the 
comforts of life. With our modest wants we thought 
that we could now live quite comfortably on six hun- 
dred a year. I was inured to poverty, and Mary, my 
wife, and now mother of three children, though she 
had been raised in a family that knew little of want, 
never aspired to luxurious living and now fully agreed 
that such a sum would supply all reasonable require- 5 



258 



mm of o®$ %iu 



ments. We were happy in our freedom from debt and 
our prospect of an ample income — happier, I think, 
than any millionaire, or even than those who, though 
not millionaires, thought at least two thousand a year 
needed for a family like mine. 

But one day our family physician, who was a 
Methodist, but often attended our services, alleging 
that he desired in this way to get even with me with- 
out sending me a bill for his services, suggested to me 
an exchange of property that surprised me, and even 
excited me. He was noted as a frequent dealer in real 
estate, though that was not his profession. He was 
wealthy, and seemed to find amusement in buying and 
selling and exchanging property, sometimes making 
large gains, but sometimes, as he was a man of senti- 
ment, incurring losses of which he was not entirely 
ignorant when the bargian was made. He had a house 
and lot which was only a square from our church, and 
which he thought an ideal place for the pastor's res- 
idence. It was a desirable location in the town, of 
ready access to our church, and, as he thought, per- 
fectly suited to a pastor like me. Aside from the flat- 
tery of me and of my prospects, I could not but agree 
with his representations. It was a larger house and 

a larger lot that he offered me in exchange for our 

259 



fetotg ot 9®v %ite 



pretty little home. It was in a more desirable part of 
the town, a little more than a block from the much 
frequented sulphur spring in the college campus. The 
location was more desirable, the house was more com- 
modious, the lot was larger and the soil was better 
than where we lived. In short, it was a potent allure- 
ment. At first I only laughed at his proposition, but 
as he proceeded I revealed to him my financial condi- 
tion and reasoned against any thought of my accept- 
ance. I think he liked me and desired to help me. His 
offer was so favorable and his terms so easy that I 
concluded to think about it. My wife and I talked it 
over. Our family was growing and a room or two 
more would be a great convenience. Especially was 
a better study felt as a want — felt all the more now 
as the house offered contained a room that could not 
have been better located and arranged if it had been 
designed for the purpose. The exchange was effected, 
some improvements, mainly in the yard and garden, 
were made to adapt the home more fully to our tastes, 
and we flattered ourselves that we now had as beauti- 
ful and convenient a pastoral residence as our little 
city could show. The shrubbery and the flowers grew 
luxuriously and became the admiration of the neigh- 
borhood and of all who passed our premises, and as 

260 



fetotg of 9®v %iit 



ours was a corner lot, fronting on one of the principal 
streets on which also our church stood, they were 
many. We could sometimes, as we sat on one or the 
other of the porticos, one facing each street, overhear 
their expressions of admiration, and were proud, Mary 
and I, of our sweet home. My vegetable garden was 
also a delight, at least to me. I had gradually learned 
something of the art of gardening, and had the delight 
in it which is the main secret of success. 

My pastoral work, which the enticements of my 
home could as little induce me to neglect as the as- 
saults of opponents, went bravely on, undisturbed by 
my home recreations in hours of needful rest. After 
our family worship in the morning, I usually indulged 
in a delightful walk about the grounds, admiring the 
beauty of the flowers and the growth of edibles in the 
vegetable garden ; and then, praising our dear Lord 
for His blessing, in the goodness of His providence 
supplying our temporal wants as well as of His grace 
giving peace to our souls in the rich provision made 
for our salvation when time shall be no more, retired 
to my library and to my duties. My congregation 
prospered, and I had but little difficulty to meet my 
payments when they became due, as we had learned 

how to save our money, and to get along quite well 

261 



&tote of 9®v %itt 



without much indulgence in luxuries. God prospered 
us in a way that seemed marvelous, and when I was 
called away from Delaware all debts were paid and I 
had every inducement to stay. 

But we were not in heaven yet, and sin and its 
consequences had not ceased to trouble us, as it had 
not ceased to trouble our congregation and our Synod. 
Our Lord kept reminding us of this. We' had three 
children when we removed to our new home, and these 
were a great care, because in the divine economy a 
great responsibility attaches to the divine gift. I would 
not have been worthy of my high office as ambassador 
of the Lord if I had not recognized this. My children, 
like all other children, were born in sin, and on me and 
my wife, as on all other parents, was imposed the duty 
of nursing them for Him and bringing them up in the 
nurture and admonition of the Lord. Perhaps I did 
not then understand as fully as now the import of this 
revealed will of God for the government of the world 
and of our sinful race. But I knew it to be the will of 
God as revealed to us in His Word. That was enough 
for a Christian, and with all my increased knowledge 
since those days, I have never found any reason for 
going beyond, or even wishing to go beyond the Chris- 
tain prayer, "Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth." 

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fetottf ot 9®V Qitt 



I sought no higher dignity or prerogative than that of 
being a child of God, and knew no more glorious office 
than that of doing our Father's will by the power of 
the Holy Ghost through the redemption which is in 
Christ Jesus our Lord. In this spirit I conducted our 
family worship morning and evening, day after day, 
and in this spirit, as soon as our oldest child was capa- 
ble of learning what God had done for him in the re- 
demption, and on the basis of this had done for him 
in Holy Baptism, I appointed regular hours of instruc- 
tion on this subject and earnestly sought to teach what 
children of God should learn. My wife, who had 
much more opportunity than I, as mothers always have, 
pursued the same course. Our children were thus 
trained to serve the Lord, and although we suffered 
many a disappointment in their conduct and their 
career, they all became Christians of decidedly Luth- 
eran convictions, and are such to this day. 

In the first year of our removal to our new home 
in i860, I was unexpectedly elected to the presidency 
of our Joint Synod. Though I had not aspired to 
such an office, and it was quite unusual to confer it 
on one so young, it was an additional incentive to re- 
joice in the unmerited prosperity which God had be- 
stowed upon me. It was an indication that I had not 

263 



&totp of &te %itt 



labored in vain in Synod, as my services in my con- 
gregation at home proved that I was not contending 
for an impracticable Lutheranism. But at that same 
Synod at which I was elected to this high position in 
the thirty-second year of my age, I had a relapse of 
my old disease, which had thus far ceased to trouble 
me during my whole residence in Delaware, unless 
my frequent suffering from lumbago must be regarded 
as its continuous manifestation. At Synod my pain 
became so intense that I was advised to return home 
several days before the time of adjournment. And I 
started none too early; for by the time I reached my 
home, accompanied by the delegate from my congre- 
gation, I had become entirely helpless. It was an at- 
tack of inflammatory rheumatism, more severe than 
any which I had experienced since the one which had 
necessitated my abandonment of the printing business 
at Harrisburg. I suffered much for several weeks, 
but my time had not yet come to die, and I recovered 
my usual frail health and was absent but two Sundays 
from my pulpit. I speak of my frail health, because, 
owing to stomach troubles and nervous headaches, I 
often debated the question whether it was right to go 
on with my pastoral work under difficulties seemingly 
so insurmountable and so incapacitating. More than 

264 



Moty Of Q$V JLitt 



once did I speak to my wife about applying for an 
easier charge in the country, preferably among the 
hills, where I could find better air and lead more of 
an outdoor life. Probably these were only moods of 
discontent, as they come to all, and whims that were 
dictated by my love of gardening. At any rate the 
Lord of the Church did not transfer me to such a 
place, and my wife, who had no such aches and pains 
and never could realize how much they troubled me, 
never encouraged my whimsies. But she had her 
share of suffering too, only it was of a different kind. 
Ailments which are the common lot and from which 
she had escaped in youth, when they are most likely 
to occur, made their belated assaults upon her now, 
and toothache, about which my experience had 
brought me no knowledge, kept reminding her that 
there are other pains to be endured besides the travails 
of childbirth, and this without the compensating joy 
that a man is born into the world. Our delightful 
new home was not beyond the realms of trouble. 

There in 1863 our second daughter, Alice, was 
born, and there, nineteen months after, she died. It 
was the fourth time that God in His infinite goodness 
had visited our humble home with the gift of a child ; 
it was the first time in His infinite goodness that He 

265 



fetorg of 9£» %itt 



came to take away again the precious gift. She was 
a beautiful child, lovely in her little life, and when 
she took sick and the physicians told us that by all 
indications she would die, the thought was one of 
anguish. Again and again we laid our earnest en- 
treaties before our Father in heaven that, if it might 
be, He could spare the dear child, and prayed for 
greater strength to say in absolute submission, Thy 
will be done. I knew and sincerely believed that He 
doeth all things well. I suffered, but did not murmur 
nor complain, or indulge any stupid thought that 
God was not dealing with us in the highest wisdom 
and mercy. But that everything which our poor 
human wisdom could suggest in our sorrow might be 
done, I called another physician who had some repu- 
tation for skill, and who belonged to a different 
school of medicine. He came immediately, examined 
the patient, and declared that there was still some hope 
of recovery, and he would do what he could to effect 
it. This seemed strange to me, for I could see through 
my tears, that Alice was dying. After the doctor left 
we arranged the child's little bed, and I sat down be- 
side her. My wife, who neglected nothing in the 
depth of her sorrow, was trying through her blind- 
ing tears to look after some necessary appliances. 

266 



&totp of 9^ %iit 



In a short time, as I saw that death was approach- 
ing rapidly, I called her and told her that if she de- 
sired to see our darling once more before death came, 
she must come to the bedside now. It did not shock 
her; she seemed to be preparing, and was now pre- 
pared for it. I think that in the past few days, and 
especially on this last we two, my wife and I, were 
closer to God and conversed more with Him than 
ever. She replied that she could bear it better if she 
were not present when the spirit of our little Alice 
took its flight. A few minutes later our dear daughter 
quietly and peacefully fell asleep. All was over, and 
all was well. God gave me strength to bear it, and 
Mary, though she wept much, was ready for it. The 
children were yet too young to know what death 
meant, and only saw that their little sister moved no 
more and that a great sorrow had come upon us. 
It was a sad home now, but the God of all consolation 
was with us, and all was well. We laid our little 
child's body away in the burying ground, in the faith 
of a glorious resurrection, and mourned our loss, but 
not as those who have no hope. And as we continue 
our pilgrimage on this side of the river which divides 
the earthly from the heavenly land, we keep glancing 



267 



fetotp of 9$v %it* 



at the farther shore, and think that it is more green 
and more flowery because Alice is there. 

Our Lord does not mean that His disciples' 
suffering should interrupt the work in which He has 
employed them. I think that I had some compre- 
hension, no doubt inadequate, of His grand economy. 
But as we, Mary and I, walked up and down this 
river, we could not forget our loss, and much less 
forget that our dear Lord has redeemed us and made 
us heirs of a home in the happy land where sorrows 
never come and where our Alice is happy forever. 
So even this could not interfere with the work which 
I was called to do in Delaware, but rather served to 
sanctify the workman and thus render it more in- 
tense. 

A year before we moved to Columbus my labors 
were increased by my acceptance of the editorship, 
and virtually of the proprietorship of the Lutheran 
Standard. As this implied not only the editing, but 
the whole business management of the periodical, in- 
cluding the mailing of the paper, my family was 
greatly concerned in the enterprise. But I reserve 
the story of this for the next chapter. 

We left our beautiful and in all respects satis- 
factory home in Delaware in the Spring of 1865. In 

268 



&toiv of 9£p Hilt 



Columbus I was not only to teach in the University, 
but to act as housefather of the whole school. A 
suite of rooms had been reserved for this purpose, 
and they were reasonably adequate. They were satis- 
factory all around. We went there, and my teaching 
and my management of the house were generally ap- 
proved, nothwithstanding occasional doubts. My wife 
was not only satisfied with her new quarters, but 
opposed any suggestion of change. She liked the sur- 
roundings, and to this day she maintains that they 
were delightful beyond all former or future arrange- 
ments made for our family comfort. She always was 
youthful in spirit and enjoyed the youthful sports of 
the students and their occasional company, which was 
regular because of the work of folding and mailing 
the paper which I continued to edit. But my experi- 
ence was different. With my classes to attend to and 
my editorial work on the Standard, I had plenty to do, 
and when to this was added the preaching almost 
every Sunday, and after a while every Sunday, it was 
a burdensome task; and when it is considered that 
the original stipulation was that I must be house- 
father and attend to the whole discipline of the Col- 
lege and Seminary, it is no wonder that I felt over- 
burdened. Some men could no doubt do it all, after 

269 



fetor? of 9pp %tU 



a certain fashion, but the fashion was not in accord 
with my conscience, and I declared my inability to 
do it all in a way that would promote our cause. 
The Board, after several years of experience agreed 
with me, and consented to relieve me of the house- 
fathership. I accordingly, without the cordial appro- 
bation of my wife, after looking around for a long 
while and long debating of the subject, purchased the 
ground which our home now occupies and built the 
house in which we still live. 

I had disposed of my property in Delaware to 
the physician from whom I had purchased it, at an 
advance of $500, so that I had a good start when I 
came to Columbus. As my assets were mainly in 
government bonds, which were then paying a liberal 
interest, and my salary was $800 in Columbus, with 
apartments in the college free of rent, I felt able to 
buy a modest home in Columbus, this time without 
the urging of my wife. My capital was not large, but 
I could feel safe in buying the two lots on which my 
house now stands and building the modest home in 
which I am now writing. The house was so placed 
that in case . the emergency should arise one of the 
lots could be sold again. But it did not arise. The 
payments were regularly made, and as my salary was 

270 




o 



o 

u 



H 

CD 

w 

u 



o 






fetotg ot 9®v Etfe 



later increased, we have for many years been living 
without debt and without want. 

Since we live in Columbus our home has been 
blessed with three more children: Harry, born in 
1865; Ada Willey, born in 1870; and Carl, born in 
1875. W e are seven, although our family living in 
this our old, but still dear old home has dwindled 
down to three, Mary and I and our daughter Ada. 
We have exerted ourselves in our simple way to make 
the place beautiful, and have no desire for one more 
costly or grand, hoping to live here until it pleases 
our Father to take us to our blissful and everlasting 
home in heaven, whither our dear Saviour, who pur- 
chased us with His blood, has gone to prepare a 
place for us. 

It was my ardent wish that all our boys should 

become preachers of the precious gospel of the grace 

of God in Christ. My wife concurred in my wish, 

and to this end their training was directed. I knew 

the hardships of the ministry quite well — knew them 

much better than most of those who use them as an 

argument to induce young men to renounce the rising 

thought of joining its struggling ranks. And I knew 

something, though not so much, of the hardships of 

those who are struggling for gold and for the glory 

271 



fetorg ot 9£g %itt 



of the world. My deliberate judgment, whenever my 
reflections turned to the subject, was uniformly in 
favor of the ministry. Of course my principal argu- 
ment was always that the glorious harvest is plente- 
ous and the laborers are few; and it seemed to me 
the acme of perverted logic when professed Christians 
reasoned against entering the ministerial profession 
because money could not be made in leading souls 
to Christ and in Him to everlasting happiness. It \\£.as 
reasoning which might well arouse indignation in a 
soul that had, by experience and otherwise, learned 
a little of the comparative worth of the temporal and 
the eternal. But even in the light of such reason as 
the world could afford the argument appeared to me 
wholly on the side of the Gospel ministry. I was 
poor and had sometimes to deny myself as a needless 
luxury some things which a common laborer could 
afford, but I was quite sure that I had some enjoy- 
ments, and that of a higher and nobler sort, which a 
millionaire could not reach and the man ambitious for 
fame could never attain. I know a good deal more 
now of the wild chase of fools after happiness on the 
rough roads of wealth and fame and pleasure, and 
my conviction has only been intensified, that even in 
the light of sound reason the ministry is a desirable 

272 



fetorg of Q$v Zitt 



field for young men. I do not mean that unsanctified 
talent should rush to the opening for its exercise. 
On the contrary, I would warn adventurers of that 
kind that their scheme must end in failure. They have 
not the conditions of success in a kingdom which is 
not of this world, and they have no adequate idea of 
what success in this realm means. The conditions are 
such that they must fail, and the want of money to 
carry on their work is misery. The ministry as a 
scheme for carnal speculation has always been a fail- 
ure, and in the nature of the conditions must be a 
failure, even if occasional temporary triumphs are re- 
ported. But a true Christian minister cannot fail. 
He may suffer temporary defeats and sometimes be 
disappointed in his hopes, but he never fails. The 
Master whom he serves sees to that. If the work is 
done according to the Lord's directions, even seeming 
failure is a real success. And the believing Christian 
knows it, and is comforted, though he does not see 
how his Lord is going to bring a triumph out of the 
seeming defeat. And if the loaf of bread on hand 
is small for a hungry family that is large, he knows 
the power of his Master, who is Lord of heaven and 
earth, and does not despair, but cheerfully hungers 
for a day or two until the wisdom and mercy of the 



18 273 



fetor? of 9®v %itt 



Master supplies the want. Take it all in all, it was 
and is still my deliberate judgment that there is no 
happier calling, with all its hardships and privations, 
than that of the Christian ministry. I can therefore 
never admit that my desire that all my boys should be 
ministers of the gospel was unwise. No doubt my 
judgment was at fault in many things, but it was not 
in this. 

In this conviction my boys, whom I desired in any 
case to bring up in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord, that they might serve Him in any calling to 
which He might assign them, were sent to school, 
and all of them in due time entered the college, in 
which I was professor. They did not meet my expec- 
tations. Probably I had expected too much, and my 
oldest boy, before he was graduated, desired a mer- 
cantile career. Our second son, referring to the hard- 
ships of the ministry and pointing to my own life as 
an example, desired to study law. Our third boy con- 
tinued his studies until he had graduated in the col- 
lege and entered the Theological Seminary, but finally 
concluded that the ministry was adapted neither to 
his taste nor his talent, and entered upon a business 
pursuit. Our fourth boy, before he was graduated in 

college, followed in the same course. I think that the 

274 



fetotg of 9$g JUtt 



success of his brothers in other vocations had much 
influence upon his decision to quit his studies and de- 
vote himself to business pursuits, and thus relieve me 
of his support and make his own living. Our oldest 
son entered a mercantile business, which fluctuated 
much, but always secured him a livelihood. As he is 
a skillful musician and never lost his interest in the 
church, he gave much time and money to our Church 
in Columbus, and is now the efficient organist of 
Grace congregation, to which he gives much attention 
without compensation, though more than once offers 
have been made him with a good salary in other 
churches. Our second son abandoned his studies af 
Capital University before graduation and entered a 
law office for the study of jurisprudence. He was ad- 
mitted to the bar as an attorney-at-law, where he 
was building up a lucrative practice, though all the 
while an active member of the English Lutheran con- 
gregation, of which he was a worthy and more than 
ordinarily laborious and appreciated officer when he 
died in 1885, at the age of twenfy-eight years. Our 
third son remained in college until his graduation, 
afterwards entered the Theological Seminary, but 
finally drifted into the mercantile business with his 
eldest brother, and is still successfully pursuing it at 

275 



^totp oC ^ %itt 



Dayton, Ohio. Our youngest son before graduation 
followed in the same line of business and also settled 
with his wife in Dayton, where both, the elder still 
unmarried, are members of the English Lutheran 
Church in connection with the Ohio Synod. It was a 
disappointment that none of them could be induced 
to enter the ministry, yet it is a comfort to know that 
they are still faithful workers in the Church. It was 
a little soothing in this disappointment that our eldest 
daughter married a minister, who is now President of 
Capital University, and I indulge the hope that of their 
family of seven, three of whom are boys, one or the 
other may enter the ministry. 

Death came to our home a second time in Sep- 
tember, 1885, when our second son was taken from us. 
He had been visiting friends who were sick of ty- 
phoid fever and one of whom had died. Their suf- 
ferings affected him much, and were a subject of ser- 
ious remark. He was depressed and complained of 
headache. Fever set in and he became delirious. In 
his lucid intervals he told us that the sickness would 
end in death, spoke calmly about it, joined heartily 
in our prayers, but persisted in his conviction that he 
would die. To me it did not seem so, and I regarded 

his impression as one of the illusions of his disease, 

276 



&tot£ of 9$2 Hiit 



The physician whom he had himself called and who 
w r as not our regular family doctor, did not seem to 
entertain such fears. But the sickness was serious 
enough to call in others for consultation, and one of 
these, while he expressed himself cautiously, mani- 
festly designed to give us no encouragement. But he 
improved, and one evening when the weather was 
misty and disagreeable he insisted, as he had been 
able to move about the house for several days, that 
he must go to his office and attend to some duties, as 
one of his clients would otherwise suffer for lack of 
his attorney's attention. He went in spite of all our 
remonstrances. As I think of it now I cannot cen- 
sure him, for I think that he was acting in accord- 
ance with the principles which I had always sought to 
instil into my children and my congregations, that so 
long as any strength is left for the performance of 
duty, we should do it, and leave the consequences 
to Him who ordained the duty. Knowing the conse- 
quences now, I still think that I would do the same 
thing : for death might have ensued even if he had not 
gone. He thought he could save his client from suf- 
fering wrong, and went. He came home exhausted 
and suffered a relapse. Next day he was worse, and 
continually grew worse until the end came. We ap- 

277 



^totg o£ apg %tu 



plied all human agencies within our knowledge, and 
did what we could to insure all possible comfort in 
life and to avert death, but he grew worse. The 
periods in which I could speak to him about the grace 
of God in Christ and in which he could join with me 
in prayer became less. He lapsed into unconscious- 
ness, and for hours and days we could have no con- 
verse with him. Did his soul, which seemed to be 
wholly absent from us, have joyous converse all the 
while with his Redeemer from sin and death? I do 
not know, men cannot know what intercourse there 
is between the Savior and the saved when all inter- 
course between the sick and sorrowing around the 
sick-bed has ceased ; but I do know that the believing 
soul, even though it become what we with our earthly 
limitations call unconscious, is safe in the arms of 
our Redeemer, and suffers no separation from him 
because there are no longer any signs of conscious 
communion with loved ones on earth. It was hard 
for me to believe that my dear boy was dying, and I 
regularly went to my work at school and did, as well 
as I could, my duty there, as my boy did when he 
went to his office on that drizzling night which, 
humanly speaking, brought on the relapse. But in 
the morning of September n, 1885, when I went to 

278 



fetotg of ®$v Hilt 



the sick-room, the conviction was forced upon me 
that my son was right: the sickness was unto death. 
I enquired of the man whom we had employed as 
night-nurse, how my boy was getting along, and his 
reply was very encouraging. He said that the patient 
had a good night and was evidently better. I 
approached the bed and saw that his condition was 
evidently worse. I conducted our morning worship, 
in which our sick boy could take no apparent part, 
and prepared myself as well as a crushing sorrow 
permitted. When the physician came I told him how 
my hopes were darkened by the condition in the morn- 
ing, and expressed my fear that my dear boy would 
leave us for the eternal world on that day. He still 
thought that there was room for hope, but agreed that 
I was right in deciding to stay at home that day. An- 
other consultation of physicians was held, and nothing 
could be done. Our dear boy died that afternoon. My 
heart was unutterably sad, but by the grace of God 
I was able to say that all is well. Indeed, it seemed 
to me, as I thought of sin and grace, and the purpose 
of God in the government of the world and the great 
salvation prepared for all in this earthly state of 
probation, that I could preach the sermon at the burial 

of my son better than I ever could officiate at a funeral 

279 



fetorp of 9$g %ite 



before. But my wife was almost inconsolable. He 
was devoted to his mother as few sons of his age are 
ordinarily found to be, and his cheery greeting when 
he came home to his meals and his affectionate atten- 
tion to her every want, it was hard for her to miss. 
But neither did she mourn as one who had no hope, 
and we buried the lifeless body of our promising boy, 
so young, so loving, so useful in the world, in the 
happy assurance that he is living still ; and we have 
never ceased to think of him as one of us, not dead, 
but sleeping. We afterwards brought the remains of 
our little Alice also to Green Lawn, and there the two 
whom God took lie side by side awaiting the glorious 
resurrection on the last day, when we shall meet 
again in the body. My wife still goes out often to 
lay flowers on their graves. I have less inclination to 
go where their bodies lie, but more to visit them where 
they live. Our children are seven. It will not be very 
long until, by the unspeakable grace of our Lord, we 
shall all be together again in heaven. 



IlTOfR.IN ST 



:? 



\ 



Facsimile of the First Number of "Lutheran 
Standard/' Edited by Dr. E. Green- 
wald at New Philadelphia, 
Ohio, Sept. 21, 1842. 



CHAPTER VII. 

EDITOR. 

DURING my whole career as a minister of the 
gospel I have been a frequent contributor to 
the periodical press. I began this when I took charge 
of the congregation at Delaware, and have continued 
my labors in that field until the present day for now 
fifty-six years. My contributions to our Lutheran 
Standard had been many during my ministry at Dela- 
ware, and occasional articles had been furnished for 
three other periodicals, one of them a Quarterly Re- 
view. It was therefore not surprising that Synod, 
in looking about for a new editor of the Standard, 
thought of me. In 1864 I was unanimously elected 
to the place, and under existing circumstances I con- 
sidered it my duty to accept the call. As the presi- 
dency of Synod had several years before been added 
to my work as pastor, this acceptance of still another 
vocation was a grave matter, for it involved a great 
deal more than the editorial management of the paper, 
which in itself was not a small addition to my burdens. 

The Lutheran Standard had had a precarious ex- 

281 



fetotp of 9$£# %iit 



istence for more than a score of years. Begun in 1842 
in New Philadelphia under the editorship of Rev. E, 
Greenwald, who was then pastor in that place, it was 
after two years removed to Zanesville and edited for 
not quite a year by Rev. S. A. Mealy, who then 
removed to another charge and left the journal heavily 
in debt, with creditors clamoring for their money. A 
committee, consisting of Pastors Spielmann and Leh- 
mann, was sent to Zanesville to settle up the accounts 
and provide for issuing the six numbers yet required 
to complete the third volume. They succeeded in 
quieting creditors and resolved, in order to gain more 
time, to publish a number only every two weeks, in- 
stead of weekly as heretofore. The missing numbers 
were issued, collections were made, some new sub- 
scribers were obtained, and it was thought possible to 
continue the paper as a bi-weekly. Pastor Spielmann 
was appointed editor, the office was moved to Somer- 
set, where Pastor Lehmann attended to the proof- 
reading and office work, but when, in 1847, the tatter 
removed to Columbus as Professor in the Seminary, 
Pastor Spielmann already residing there, the publica- 
tion office was also transferred to Columbus, where it 
was of longer continuance. In 1848 Pastor Spielmann 
resigned the editorship on account of failing health, 

282 



fetotp of Spp %\it 



and the Standard was edited by a committee until 1851, 
when Rev. E. Greenwald, who had become pastor of 
our English congregation in Columbus, took charge 
of it and remained its editor until his removal from 
the city in 1854. Then Professor Worley was ap- 
pointed to the place, and in 1859 synod gave the whole 
management of the paper into his hands, the business 
affairs and correspondence having during all this 
time, until 1857, remained in the hands of Pastor 
Spielmann, after which time this part was attended 
to by Rev. J. A. Schulze until the whole was com- 
mitted to Professor Worley. 

Accordingly what was expected of me was to 
take the entire property and make out of it what I 
could. That property consisted of a mailing list and 
an account book. The press had long since been sold, 
and for years it had been found more convenient to 
have the printing done in other establishments than 
to maintain one of our own. What I assumed was 
thus the publication every two weeks of a periodical, 
with all that pertains to such an undertaking, includ- 
ing the management of the business and the mailing 
as well as the editorship. 

It was a large contract that I had assumed. The 
Standard to all appearance was for a second time near- 



283 



mow of $®v %itt 



ing its end. The subscription list had dwindled down 
so much that the prospect of making the paper self- 
supporting was gloomy. It had lost some of its best 
friends, and I could not reasonably expect that within 
a short period enough zeal would be displayed in 
gathering new subscribers to dispel the gloom. And 
yet in full view of the situation, my conviction that the 
work which the Lord had given our Ohio Synod to do 
would suffer if we permitted the Standard to die, 
constrained me to make the effort. It should not die 
if strength were given me to do the work necessary 
to keep it alive. I saw, too, where improvements 
could be made that would render the paper more ac- 
ceptable. Neither the editorial nor the mechanical 
work on it was satisfactory. I was myself displeased 
with it, and although I still made some contributions 
to its columns, I was impelled to send to other papers 
such articles as I thought most needful. This I did 
partly because Professor Worley's notions about 
church government were opposed to what he called 
the Missourianism which I advocated, and partly 
because it was plain to me that my advocacy of con- 
sistent Lutheranism in doctrine and practice would be 
more effective in periodicals more widely read and of 

larger influence than our deteriorated Standard. If 

284 



flip Eufitecmi Itoteil 



* <3 



Facsimile of First Number of "Lutheran Standard' 

Edited by Prof. M. Loy, at Delaware, Ohio, 

April 15, 1864. 



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the present crisis could be safely passed, the hope of 
better days seemed to me no idle dream. Surely 
God's power is not curbed by the distress which cries 
to Him for help. 

So I consulted a printer at Delaware and made a 
contract for the publication which was, I thought, 
quite fair and favorable. There was at Stratford a 
paper mill whose proprietors lived in Delaware, and 
I succeeded there also in getting reasonable terms. 
The copy was furnished, the proof was read, and the 
first issue under my care, dated April, 1864, was 
printed, and the whole edition delivered at my house. 
I paid the bill according to contract, and the pile of 
papers was my property. Brother Schulze, who had 
become an expert in the mailing business, and who was 
anxious that I should not become discouraged in my 
first experience of getting the papers to their destina- 
tion through the mail, had come up from Columbus 
to help me to prepare the wrappers, fold the papers, 
write the addresses, get the paste ready, put it on 
only where it belongs, and whatsoever pertains to the 
mystery of mailing without machinery. My whole 
family bravely attacked the printed pile and by mid- 
night we had the work done, and in the morning 

hauled the packages to the post-office. One number 

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was thus issued without mishap and without losing 
heart. 

I looked the paper over with a feeling of com- 
placency bordering on pride. It was an improvement 
in paper, in type, in presswork and I thought also in 
contents. My predecessor with whom I was not in 
harmony on the "church and ministry" question and 
some practical matters involved in it, gave me a hearty 
recommendation in his valedictory, showing how at 
least in our Ohio Synod, men could oppose each other 
without becoming personal enemies. Among other 
things he said: "Let us all do better in future to 
give the Standard a more original and direct churchly 
tone. Our people complain of their ministers because 
they do not show the interest they ought by contribut- 
ing to its support their own original articles. The 
truth is, they have had and have now too much reason 
to complain in this regard. Brethren, do not let it 
be so any longer. Up and to work while the day 
lasts, lest the night of dissolution come over our 
beloved Standard, when it will be too late to work in 
its favor and support." "In conclusion we will only 
yet ask the hearty co-operation and encouragement of 
all, ministers and laymen, to our successor and the 
paper." In my own introductory editorial I deemed 

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it well to speak with that frankness which it was my 
purpose to observe throughout my editorial career. 

Even in regard to the condition of our paper, I 
designed to conceal nothing. I copy an extract from 
a lengthy salutatory talk: "We are no stranger to 
this audience ; at any rate after having been a not infre- 
quent contributor to the paper for fifteen years, we 
do not feel like a stranger; so we shall try to be at 
ease, although the editorial chair in general, and this 
editorial chair in particular, is no easy chair, as our 
predecessor — whom peace and prosperity attend in 
his new home — can testify. If we are asked how we 
came to be in so unpromising a position as that of 
editor of the Standard, we have simply to answer that 
we could not help it. Providence does not call men 
to sit in counsel with Him. Our Lord disposes of His 
willing servants according to His own purposes, and 
that is about all we know of the disposition made." 
"But why should there have been any hesitation or re- 
luctance about it? Our readers have sufficient data 
from which to draw a satisfactory answer to this 
question for themselves. And yet this is the proper 
place to give an answer. The cares and perplexities 
connected with the, editing of a paper are sufficiently 

great to induce men to be sometimes slow in accepting 

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an editorship, even when they are relieved from all 

other labors and are offered salaries which are by no 

means uninviting. We always supposed that we had 

enough to do in our own congregation, which by the 

blessing of God has become comparatively large, and, 

considering the enfeebled state of our health, we think 

so still. These duties we have to perform as before, 

all that are made incumbent upon us by the acceptance 

of the paper being additional. And it is not only the 

editorship that we are called to assume ; our reluctance 

would not have been so great if this had been all. 

There is the whole management of the business, with 

the drudgery of mailing and bookkeeping thrown in. 

It is shocking, you will say; why not hire somebody 

to attend to these extra labors, which ought never to 

be imposed on the editor ? Dear reader, we would let 

you into a secret here, were the cat not already out of 

the bag; there is positively no money to hire anybody 

else with. But why not rather reduce the editor's 

salary in order to relieve him of work so tedious and 

tasteless ? Dear, unsophisticated reader, the editor has 

no salary." 

In regard to the doctrinal position of the paper 

this was said: "We shall endeavor to be faithful to 

our motto, 'Speaking the truth in love/ This truth we 

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find in the Holy Scriptures, which are our rule of 
faith and practice; and the truth of Holy Scripture 
we find confessed, without admixture of error, in the 
symbols of our Church. Fidelity to the Bible implies, 
as we see it, fidelity to our Confessions: men do not 
speak the truth when their speech is contrary to either, 
because both contain the same truth. We know of no 
Lutheranism, properly so called, but the Evangelical 
Lutheranism of the Augsburg Confession, and shall 
always strive to prove our title to the Lutheran name 
by maintaining the scriptural truth of that august 
symbol. This truth we shall endeavor to speak in love, 
which, of course, does not mean that we shall not 
speak it at all. We shall endeavor to speak it always, 
whether men will hear or forbear; but we shall strive 
to speak it kindly, with the purpose to benefit others, 
even though it should be necessary sometimes to give 
pain in order to effect this purpose." 

I think that the first number issued under my 
management did something towards convincing the 
constituency of the Standard that it could yet be made 
an efficient helper in the great work which was com- 
mitted to the Ohio Synod. The paper was commended 
and won new friends, and tke editor was encouraged 
by many tokens of good will. When the second nttm- 



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ber was issued and delivered, money enough had come 
in to pay the bills promptly, and no worry came from 
that source. I had made preparations for mailing, and 
when the paper came the whole family joined forces, 
and by dint of perseverance and with some bungling 
we got the edition ready in due time for the drayman 
and the post office. In course of time we learned the 
business, and the work became easier, especially as, 
when mailing day came, my children sometimes 
brought in playmates to help them, and occasionally a 
friend dropped in to help us. So after a while that 
part of the burden became lighter, and as subscription 
monies kept coming in every week, there was no occa- 
sion for business embarrassments. 

Of course, the editorial management was of 
greater importance and laid upon me a responsibility 
of higher moment. I think that I recognized this to 
the fullest extent, and felt it even more deeply than 
my most anxious friends. It may therefore seem unac- 
countable that this worried me but little. That, how- 
ever, is the fact. If any one should infer from this 
that I had a fond conceit of myself, and was supported 
by a presumption which is blind to the power of other 
people, his inference is utterly false. Such folly may 

sustain a braggart for a while, but sooner or later he 

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must succumb to superior forces, and usually it is very 
soon. I knew something of our limitations and weak- 
nesses, and had good reason to suspect that these were 
greater than I knew. I was aware also that there 
were multitudes of people whose endowments and at- 
tainments were greater than mine, and some of these I 
had become acquainted with and appreciated. Against 
some of these I would have to contend in my editorial 
career, and I was not stupid enough to imagine that 
the way to win a battle is to underestimate the enemy's 
power. I had looked over the field, considered the 
difficulties, and can sum up all by saying that I had 
faith in God and accepted His call. 

When a man undertakes such a public work he 
must be prepared for censure as well as for praise, 
for war as well as for peace. It seemed to me inevit- 
able, that if I would unwaveringly pursue my purpose 
to do God's will by making the Standard an unflinch- 
ing witness of His truth as the Lutheran Church con- 
fesses it, not everybody would welcome it as a dear 
friend, but that some would antagonize it. The 
thought of making the paper a financial success at all 
hazards and at every sacrifice conducive to this end, 
never haunted me. What I wanted was to make it a 

faithful servant of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. 

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If it could not live with such a mission, it might die 
for aught I cared. So number after number was pre- 
pared and sent forth in the cheering belief that another 
little contribution was made towards spreading the 
light of the Reformation among the people and thus 
glorifying God, whom I was intent on serving and 
whom I wanted the paper to serve. Therefore the edit- 
ing, and any attacks made upon me for the truth which 
I published, worried me little. I did what I could to 
perpetuate and propagate the blessed gospel of the 
grace of God in Christ, as the Lutheran Church had 
been confessing it for more than three hundred years 
and thus been bringing salvation to millions of souls, 
and if the paper, under the good providence of God, 
could not be sustained under my management, He 
could relieve me of the work and choose a better in- 
strument to compass His ends. I tried to do the Mas- 
ter's will, and was content that He should provide and 
care for His servants. Some ready writers who were 
of the same mind as myself were secured, and the paper 
became more and more influential; and when I took 
it with me to Columbus, a year after, it had not only 
paid all the expenses of its one year's sojourn in Del- 
aware, but had increased both in circulation and repu- 



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tation. The dark cloud had moved away, and the out- 
look was brightening. 

In Columbus it was again the mechanical part of 
my work, not the editorship proper, that harrassed me. 
New arrangements had to be made for continuing the 
publication. A contract was made, but it was less 
favorable than had been secured at Delaware, and the 
work was inferior. The proof furnished was bad, 
sometimes intolerably bad, and after all our proofread- 
ing and trouble the typographical errors which re- 
mained in the printed copies were many and often in- 
excusable in any respectable printing house. This did 
worry me. My time was so fully occupied that I could 
not go to the office every day to look after the fore- 
man's business. The office was a mile away and my 
hours were precious ; and yet if I did not constantly 
look after the printers every issue gave me new annoy- 
ance. It was a great trial to my patience, and this 
trial I had to endure for months before I, an old 
printer, succeeded in getting something like order into 
the business of the proprietor, who evidently knew 
nothing about printing. This for a long while was a 
greater trouble than raising money to pay the good 
price for his bad work. Indeed, in the publication of 

the paper for the first months it would not have been 

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unfair if he had allowed me as much for my skilled 
labor in his office as he charged me for his unskilled 
work, so that at our monthly settlement we could have 
called it even. But neither of us lost his temper, and 
after a while things went better. The mailing I could 
not have left in charge of such an office, even if the 
income had been sufficient to cover the additional ex- 
pense. So I had that drudgery on my hands as be- 
fore. But it was easier now. During my first years at 
Columbus we lived in the University building, the dis- 
cipline of the house having been placed in my charge. 
There were always some among the students who were 
ready to assist me in any work they could do, and when 
publication day came and the papers were delivered at 
my room, some were even delighted to come over and 
help us. It was usually a pleasant house party, which 
became to my wife and children a matter of desire 
rather than of dread. Even the cutting and address- 
ing of wrappers, which was done before mailing day, 
was taken ofif my hands by some of the "boys," who 
did this gladly because it gave them the first chance to 
be of the party on packing night. 

The course which I pursued as editor, and which 
with my faith and convictions could not be otherwise, 

led me into many controversies. The reason for this 

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is not that I had any special delight in polemics. I 
love peace and quiet, and would rather suffer wrong 
than fight. But what God had entrusted to my keep- 
ing I could not surrender without losing His favor and 
my peace. My editorship extended over a period of 
more than a quarter of a century, and often required 
me to say what I knew must be displeasing to men of 
other minds. I could not have been faithful to the 
Lord and His Church if I had not been willing to 
defend the truth when assaults were made upon it. 
The grace of God always protected me from the weak- 
ness of letting my natural love of peace overcome the 
love of His cause. He had taught me to contend earn- 
estly for the faith, and sustained me in the purpose 
which He had given me to do His will. It was the 
truth, for the maintenance and defense of which the 
Standard was set, that provoked controversy. It was 
clear to me that if the paper was properly to fulfill its 
mission it must do something more than to furnish 
church news, or even to supply its readers with brief 
items of light religious reading, with which an idle 
hour might be whiled away and which might in a cer- 
tain sense be called edifying. Even my idea of edifi- 
cation would not permit me to adopt such an editorial 

management. Without a knowledge of the truth re- 

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vealed in Holy Scripture and an intelligent apprecia- 
tion of at least its principal doctrines there can be no 
solid and lasting edification, readily as it may be admit- 
ted that a sort of sentimental piety might be instilled in 
souls ignorant of the way of salvation and a wild and 
thoughtless activity might be produced through an ex- 
cited "zeal without knowledge." I had ample opportu- 
nity, during my long abode in a Methodist town, to ob- 
serve how such a religious training works, and I had 
read enough to know whither it leads when reduced to 
a system. I was not unaware that the popular taste was 
against me, that the people generally did not like long 
articles, and that especially articles designed to instruct 
in doctrine and that are called heavy because they re- 
quire attention and reflection to be profitable, were 
disliked. My opinion was and is now that a journal 
which caters only to such tastes may make money, 
but will not build character. Light reading will not 
make grave readers. Accordingly I did not limit con- 
tributors, some of whom I knew to be excellent teach- 
ers, to a column or two when they consented to write 
articles for instruction on subjects of importance to 
the Church. Many articles were thus published that 
are of permanent value and that, if they were left un- 
read by many subscribers, exerted an educating influ- 

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ence on those who did read them; and of such there 
were more than the advocates of scraps suspected. 
My desire was to have at least one so-called heavy 
article in each issue, and my editorials were frequently 
of this class. Meantime I did not overlook the wants 
of those who were not inclined to read lengthy essays, 
but endeavored to furnish sufficient variety to meet 
all reasonable expectations. 

It was, of course, the long doctrinal article which 
provoked controversy, and mostly it was the editorials. 
I cannot admit that it was the manner of presenting the 
truth rather than the matter which gave the provoca- 
tion. There were sometimes instances of wrong-doing 
which, having become public, demanded public rebuke 
of the person or persons; but these personal matters 
were rarely the subject of anything more than a short 
notice, and it was an exceptional case if such a matter 
even led to a dispute requiring extended treatment. 
Between us and the General Synod there were funda- 
mental differences, and when we exposed and refuted 
the errors which were there taught and tolerated, the 
papers of that body were usually not silent ; and usu- 
ally, if they said anything that seemed to challenge a 
reply and to be worthy of it, the Standard did not keep 

silence either. It was not unexpected that I was some- 

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times charged with forgetting our motto of "speaking 
the truth in love." I was not conscious of any per- 
sonal bitterness, though I waxed warm when I saw 
men wearing a Lutheran mask while endeavoring to 
undermine the Lutheran Church, which we with 
prayer and labor were trying in the Lord's name to 
build up. I would be ashamed now if I had seemed 
indifferent in the struggle. Sometimes I used severe 
language, because I meant what I said, and did not 
wish that it should seem otherwise. I rebuked them 
sharply, and must most emphatically deny that this is 
inconsistent with the love which the Holy Spirit gives 
and the Bible requires. I am glad that our dear Lord 
enabled me to contribute my mite towards protecting 
our people against the insidious leaven of unionistic 
General Synodism, and even of helping to bring that 
body more nearly in accord with the name which it 
bears, although it is still far from being what it claims 
to be and of right ought to be. 

It was a grief to me that we had to engage in con- 
troversy with the General Council also, soon after its 
organization, notwithstanding that its very purpose 
seemed to be the advancement of the divine truth 
which was so dear to us and for which we were so 

earnestly contending. I had for years known and 

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admired some of its leaders, and at the Reading Con- 
vention I had become acquainted with some others 
with whose fervent Lutheran spirit I felt the deepest 
sympathy and whose ability I fully recognized. If 
the flesh had been permitted to decide I would have 
said nothing when the long-protracted war began. 
But I could not be faithful and still permit wrong to 
triumph without resistance. In the closing number of 
the Standard for 1867 I said : "The times are growing 
more and more earnest, and the demands made upon 
the public journalist are becoming proportionally 
greater. Our beloved Church is passing through 
trials, and can conquer only by severe conflict with 
the hosts that are arrayed against her. The devil and 
the world are fierce in their opposition to her progress. 
Foes slander her, and many who are her friends mis- 
understand her and often unwittingly injure her. The 
popular sentimental piety of the country cannot break 
her earnest appeal to the Divine Word, as against 
human reason and human feeling, and in spite of all 
her ardent love she must pass in its estimation as cold 
and hard and exclusive. And within her own borders 
there are bickerings and dissensions. All these things 
give us reason to feel our inability all the more deeply, 

whilst much that is transpiring in the field which is 

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assigned for cultivation more immediately to us, tends 
to discourage, and the thousand annoyances to which 
editors are heirs keep the virtue of patience under con- 
stant discipline. Shall we lay down our pen and take 
our ease ? We have other thoughts. Our ability is of 
God, and when we are sorely tried He is a very pres- 
ent help." In that same issue the action of the first 
meeting of the General Council was reported, in ref- 
erence to which I said: "We will not quote the re- 
marks reported as having been made against our 
Synod, nor those which were uttered in her defence. 
There were things said that were as irrelevent as they 
were unkind. But we let that pass, and give the re- 
sult of the deliberations upon the paper handed in 
by our committee." Then, after laying before our 
readers the four resolutions constituting the action in 
reply to the Ohio Synod's questions, I continued: 
"We will not conceal the depressing effect which the 
reading of these resolutions, in connection with the 
reported debates on the subject, has had upon our 
mind. To say the truth we have no respect for the 
formality which on the plea of order shirks questions 
of conscience. To give an account of their faith and 
offer a reason for the hope that is in them is men's 

right, which no constitutions have any business to in- 

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fringe and which, we are persuaded, the constitution 
of the Council was never meant to limit. It would 
be sad if this body had so tied its hands that it could 
give an utterance on life-questions in the Church only 
when one of the synods belonging to it presents them 
in due form. It is a little uncomfortable to observe 
the implied censure of us, as mere outsiders, for pre- 
suming to ask questions, the answer to which was 
desired for the purpose of clearing the way that we 
might not remain outsiders. Still, such a mistake 
shall not be allowed to estrange us. We still hope 
that the day is approaching when we shall be able to 
unite. Nor do we resign this hope because of the 
grief which we feel on account of the Council's con- 
duct with reference to our English District. It would 
have been generous, even if members of the Council 
did not think justice demanded it, if the delegation 
of a District sending representatives to unite with the 
Council in defiance of the action of the body of which 
it formed a part, had been respectfully requested to 
wait until its relation to the Joint Synod had been 
clearly ascertained and the conflict into which it has 
seen fit to enter with that body had been settled. The 
Joint Synod cannot take it kindly that the Council saw 

fit to receive a small portion of our Synod in spite 

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of the declaration of the whole body that we could not 
at present unite." "The answer which the Council 
gave to the Iowa Synod, to which answer our Synod 
is referred, is so unsatisfactory that the Iowaans re- 
fused to connect themselves with the Council, and 
the Synod of Wisconsin dissented from it. Upon this, 
in connection with an editorial in the Lutheran and 
Missionary, which will surprise many in the General 
Council as it did us, and for which, we trust, the 
Council would not like to be held responsible, we shall 
have something more to say in a future number." 
Thus the long controversy with the General Council 
began. 

I have made these extracts from the Standard 
of that time to show that it was in sorrow, not in 
anger, that I engaged in the controversy. The griev- 
ance was one of the gravest import. I did not im- 
pugn the motives of the persons whose action was 
reproved. God is judge of human hearts, and in that 
respect He has not only not committed the judgment 
to us, but has forbidden us to usurp it. But wrong 
was done, and if the people who did it thought they 
were doing right, that error did not change the open 
fact. And it was a wrong which menaced our Synod's 
life. We had struggled for years, amid many diffi- 



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culties, to awaken in our people a consciousness of 
our precious inheritance as the great Church of the 
Reformation, and God had blessed our labors with 
much success. The errors and misunderstandings and 
doubts which had existed among us had been largely 
overcome. Lutherans were beginning to feel that their 
Church, poor and much despised in the land, was 
something to glory in rather than to be ashamed of, 
and that her mission was to lead the Protestant host, 
not to ape the sects and barter away her solid gold 
for their gaudy tinsel. It was laudable that the Ohio 
Synod was ready to unite with others in the East 
who were enlisted in the same cause, so soon as this 
could be done without sacrificing what it had by per- 
severing labor and patient suffering attained. Ohio 
did its part towards effecting a general union of Lu- 
theran forces. But when the time came for organiz- 
ing them in the General Council, assurances could not 
be given us that that body would carry out the prin- 
ciples professed, but thought it best to shirk our 
questions and act as if it had been presumptuous on 
our part to ask them. And more than this. One of 
our Districts had some men in it who were not fully 
in harmony with our Synod's forward movement on 

the path of confessional Lutheranism and consistent 

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practice. These men had a shrewd leader, and in con- 
sequence there had for several years past been trouble 
with that District, which refused to comply with reso- 
lutions of Synod. When the Council was organized 
the disaffected party secured a majority and carried 
the District independently into that body. Our Synod 
declared that it could not join the Council as long as 
it refused to give a Lutheran answer to questions 
which we regarded as vital. The District paid no at- 
tention to this, resolved to escape any further trouble 
with us by taking refuge in the Council, and was there 
received with open arms. Looking at the affair now, 
after an interval of nearly forty years, my judgment 
remains the same as then, that war was inevitable. 
I wrote as one who felt the wrong done, with pro- 
found regret that the Council did not take the posi- 
tion upon which all true Lutherans could have united, 
but wrote without malice. My contention was for 
truth and righteousness, and if the Standard for years 
showed fight, it was because it was set for the defense 
of the Gospel which the Lutheran Church is com- 
missioned to uphold in its purity for the eternal wel- 
fare of men. As long as I remained editor, the grace 
of God sustaining me, there was no prospect that the 

fight would end, unless our opponents would lay down 

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their arms and permit us to do our Lord's work in 
peace. 

These controversies, which some, ignorant of the 
Master's ways and of the militant character of His 
Church on earth, thought needless or even harmful, 
were as important for the progress of our cause as 
the doctrinal articles designed for direct instruction. 
A goodly part of the opposition to my teaching on 
the subject of the Church and the Ministry in the 
earlier days was owing in large part to a misunder- 
standing of the whole subject, and especially of the 
contention of those of us in our Synod who were 
styled Missourians. It was not to be wondered at 
that men who supposed us to mean, when we insisted 
that the Church is essentially invisible, that nothing 
visible, not even the bodies of believing men, be- 
longed to the essence of the Church, were inclined 
to doubt; or that, when we declared the Lutheran 
to be the only Church in which the Gospel is preached 
in its purity and the sacraments are administered in 
accordance with the pure Gospel, they, imagining that 
this unchurched all other Christians, were moved to 
deny it. Our warfare against the General Synod and 
General Council, which both in part occupied the same 

territory with the Ohio Synod and which both did us 
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damage in substantially the same way, served to clear 
up some important points in our contention and to 
draw our people more closely together. Our skirm- 
ishes with Missouri, whose fanatical corporals an- 
noyed us less as their leaders saw what had been 
accomplished among us, were gradually ceasing and 
peace and fraternal relations were established, so that 
we could labor together with them in our effort to 
build up a pure and faithful Evangelical Lutheran 
Church in the land. My conduct of the Standard of 
course occasionally lost us a friend, as there were 
still some among us who were unwilling to abandon 
their unionistic sentiments, and would rather leave us 
than bear the reproach in the community of being less 
liberal and loving than their neighbors. On the other 
hand many friends were gained by the consistent 
course which I pursued in adhering firmly to the 
Confessions of our Church and laboring strenuously 
to make her rich treasures of truth and love better 
known among the people. 

The Standard became so welcome a visitor in 
many families and exerted an influence so manifestly 
beneficial to the Church, that after a few years friends 
began to agitate the project of issuing it weekly in- 
stead of semi-monthly. To this I was not disinclined, 

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As matters stood in the Church the need of such an 
improvement was apparent. The paper was now pay- 
ing the expense of its publication. But whether it 
could be sustained if the expenses were more than 
doubled, thus making an increase in the subscription 
price necessary, was a serious question. Besides, I 
was kept busy with the work already in hand, and 
doubted about my ability to continue it, if so much 
additional labor were required of me. But I did not 
discourage my friends who were exerting themselves 
to bring about so desirable a move for the advance- 
ment of our holy cause. I rather encouraged it by 
indicating how it could be done. But it was a diffi- 
cult task and was talked about for years before it 
was consummated. Finally, in 1872, at the meeting 
of our English District, which felt the need all the 
more because our work was antagonized by the party 
which left our Synod and became a District of the 
Council, unanimously resolved to push this enterprise 
with all its power and to work strenuously for its 
accomplishment. The conditions necessary to insure 
success were carefully considered, and a committee of 
energetic men was appointed to do the work requisite 
for their fulfillment, and, in case they succeeded, the 
Standard was in 1873 to be issued weekly. In the 

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last number preceding that date I said editorially: 
"Probably none can fully realize the difficulties con- 
nected with such an undertaking but those who have 
gathered some experience in such matters. Having 
had charge of the Standard for nine years we could 
not fully share the sanguine expectations which some 
of our brethren entertained, glad as we would be to 
see their hopes realized. Some of the difficulties in 
the way were set forth during the discussions, but 
still it was resolved to make the effort. The com- 
mittee has been at work and has labored faithfully. 
But the time was short, the Church hastens slowly in 
such enterprises, and we have received no definite in- 
structions from the brethren upon whom the responsi- 
bility was placed by Synod. What now? When we 
assumed the management of the Standard the days 
were dark, and we undertook the task as a work of 
faith and labor of love. God's blessing has been upon 
us and the paper has prospered. It is perhaps no 
more than fair that we should venture something 
again and give our readers the benefit of the paper's 
prosperity. If a change was to be made, it was 
necessary to begin making arrangements for it before 
now. We assumed the responsibility and have made 
contracts for the improvement of the paper, desiring 

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to meet the wishes of the brethren, as far as that is 
possible, and hoping to be sustained in our undertak- 
ing. What we propose to do now is this. The next 
number of the Standard will be issued in a form 
about one-third larger than the present and in an 
improved dress. As this will give us much more room, 
we expect to furnish more matter of a practical char- 
acter and pay more regard to family reading, not over- 
looking the wants of children, while the confessional 
character of the paper will remain unchanged. In 
our devotion to the Evangelical Lutheran Church with 
her glorious Confessions we desire only to abound 
more and more. But how about the weekly? Well, 
for that we are not ready just now. By enlarging the 
paper and thus increasing the expenses by one-third, 
we have a prospect of doing all our work for nothing 
and paying several hundred dollars a year for the 
privilege, taking the present income as a basis." I 
think that this was fully as much as my brethren 
could expect of me. But in the same article I made 
the offer to publish the enlarged paper weekly after 
the fourth issue for the coming year, if enough sub- 
scribers would be secured, at double the present price 
of one dollar per annum, to meet even approximately 
the expenses of publication, or in some other way 



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to protect me against assuming obligations beyond 
my means. The issue of January, 1873, fulfilled my 
promise and pleased the subscribers. My friends re- 
joiced at the forward movement and rallied bravely 
to give it support. They worked so hard and did so 
well, that I would have felt ashamed to shrink from 
doing what I could to compass what they so ardently 
wished. I looked over my financial situation and con- 
cluded that, without sacrificing my home, which I 
did not think it right to do, I could obligate myself 
for all losses in a year's trial of the weekly publica- 
tion. So after February the Standard, to the great 
joy of its devoted friends, appeared every week. It 
continued to gain friends, and at the year's end there 
was no deficit; and I had nothing to pay for the 
privilege of doing the arduous work which its man- 
agement imposed upon me. It continued to flourish 
year after year, and remains a weekly until this day, 
still continuing its good work of testifying to the 
truth which the Lutheran Church confesses and teach- 
ing the people to observe all things which our blessed 
Lord has commanded. During the more than a 
quarter of a century's work as editor of the Standard 
I labored much and suffered much; but I have the 
joyful assurance that my labor was not in vain in 

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&totg ot 9®v Etfe 



the Lord, and am thankful for the grace which made 
me the humble instrument for so many years to dis- 
pense His blessings among the people. 

Overburdened as I was with work after the 
Standard had become a weekly, circumstances in 1881 
impelled me to undertake additional editorial labors. 
With the Missourians we had long been at peace, and 
our relations had become so cordial that we had united 
with them in forming the Synodical Conference. It 
had always been a favorite idea of mine that the Luth- 
eran Church in this country should, so far as this could 
be done on the basis of her confession, join her forces 
and all parts work together for the spread and defence 
of the precious truth of the Reformation, and espec- 
ially that different organizations professing the same 
faith should cease to place obstacles in each other's 
way by occupying the same territory and pursuing 
special synodical interests at the expense of the 
Church's welfare as a whole. According to the will 
of God churches of the same faith must treat each 
other as brethren and help each other, and causing 
division and working against each other is sin. Whilst 
I knew quite well that the external union of churches 
into large organizations is not commanded, I regarded 
it as a requirement of Christian wisdom and love to 

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fetotp ot 9®v JLitt 



form such unions in order to avoid interferences with 
each other's work and to make the best possible use 
of the various gifts and opportunities for the common 
good. I was therefore sincere in my desire to have our 
Synod unite with other Lutheran Synods in the Gen- 
eral Council, and regretted that the position taken by 
that body rendered this impossible without sacrific- 
ing all that could make the union desirable. Any 
scheme of expediency, however wise it may seem, is 
merely human folly when it is set up against the 
wisdom of God. Therefore I contended against the 
Council when it declined to act in accordance with the 
good Confession which it formally adopted. It was 
the same principle that actuated me in my efforts to- 
wards securing a union with other Synods which, 
like our own, could not unite with the Council, and 
I was therefore glad when the Synodical Conference 
was organized, as I was sorry that, from my point 
of view, the Council had been a failure. But after 
six or eight years of harmonious co-operation in that 
body, troubles came. The elements united in the 
Conference were not in every respect congenial, but 
they were one in the same Lutheran faith and thus 
harmonious in all that is requisite for true unity in 
the Church. Some of our ministers did not like 

312 



fetor? of S$£ %iit 



the supercilious ways of some of the Missourians, 
and were not as cordial as might be wished even with 
some of the Missourian leaders. The Wisconsin and 
Minnesota men were even less enthusiastic in their ad- 
miration of Missourians, and occasionally something 
akin to antipathy was shown towards some of them, 
who sometimes conducted themselves as if they were 
not averse to being regarded as the princes of the 
court and the others their retinue. Notwithstanding 
these undesirable manifestations the synods w T ere 
growing together nicely, and there was no serious 
jarring or jangling in prosecuting the work in which 
all were heartily engaged. The trouble that came was 
of a doctrinal sort. Even before the formation of 
our Conference, some views of predestination had been 
published by Missourian pastors which had a Calvin- 
istic taint. But this was not in their official organs. 
What these had published was acceptable to all of 
us. But in 1877 Dr. Walther began to advocate a 
theory which excited doubt and suspicion. On most 
of us what was published in the minutes of the Mis- 
souri Synod made little impression. It was a con- 
fused discussion of a difficult subject, and little notice 
was taken of it until it was made the subject of in- 
quiries among the Missourians themselves. Prof. 

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fetotg of 9£p %itt 



Schmidt, of the Norwegian Synod, finally made public 
his scruples about the doctrine of Dr. Walther and 
showed its inconsistency with that of the Lutheran 
Church. Instead of revoking his error, Dr. Walther 
defended it. He was not accustomed to any dissent 
from his teaching among his own people, and was 
never inclined to yield a point when any of them 
ventured publicly to express a doubt, which as a rule 
was done, if done at all, in the way. of a humble request 
for further light. , So the predestinarian controversy 
began, and our Ohio Synod became entangled in it 
because of our connection with the Synodical Confer- 
ence in which it had sprung up, and which must ulti- 
mately accept or reject the new doctrine. From the 
beginning my sympathies were entirely with Prof. 
Schmidt, who defended the doctrine which the Lu- 
theran Church had been unanimous in teaching for 
three hundred years; but it seemed to me that Dr. 
Walther had rather become confused in his exposi- 
tions, and that when the matter should be cleared up 
he would correct his extravagant expressions and 
accept the uniform teachings of the old dogmaticians, 
from which he still quoted largely, as was his wont. 
The printed Minutes by which the conflagration was 
started, show two irreconcilable lines of thought, and 

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&tot» of S£g %itt 



I was loth to think that the Calvinistic line was de- 
signed to be dominant, and that the purpose was to 
introduce a mild form of Calvinism. But as the con- 
troversy continued I could not close my eyes to the 
fact, as it became more and more apparent, that Dr. 
Walther maintained a theory that was essentially Cal- 
vinistic. This was expressed in the Standard, and be- 
fore the subject came before the Synodical Conference 
the Missourians, under Dr. Walther's leadership, had 
adopted a plan by which all who were convinced that 
the new theory was a species of Calvinism should be 
denied a seat in that body. As they had a large 
majority in it, the Ohio Synod, seeing it to be useless 
under such circumstances to make any effort to secure 
the triumph of Anticalvinism in a body from which 
any one attacking Walther's Calvinism was excluded, 
declared its withdrawal. 

What was to be done now in regard to the Mis- 
sourian innovation? Our interest in the upbuilding 
of the Lutheran Church with its pure faith would 
have impelled us to take sides against the Calvinistic 
movement, which had the prestige of a powerful or- 
ganization with a skillful leader in its favor, even 
if we had not had the additional incentive of having 
been connected with it and having been wrongfully 



315 



&totg of 9pp %ite 



deprived of our right to exert in the Conference such 
influence as we possessed. Our Synod as in duty 
bound unhesitatingly took its stand against the inno- 
vation ; and if we were forbidden to testify in the Con- 
ference, Missouri could not forbid us to testify in pub- 
lic. We must do what lay in our power to protect our 
Synod against the error, as well as help to preserve 
the Lutheran Church in this land from the poison of 
Calvinism. So an additional controversy was forced 
upon us. As editor of the Standard I was expected 
to do my share, and to the extent of my ability I strove 
to meet the just expectations. But the subject was 
complicated and required much space. The question 
became a burning one, and extended discussions be- 
came necessary. Though the Standard had been 
much enlarged and was issued weekly, it could not, 
with justice to all readers, afford space enough to pub- 
lish all that our writers thought it necessary to say. 
There was no larger periodical that we could use for 
the purpose. 

As I viewed the situation, necessity was thus laid 
upon us to provide facilities for the publication of 
more elaborate theological discussions. Others as well 
as myself had felt the need of such a journal before 
this new controversy was sprung upon us, and now it 

316 



£>totg ot o$v %\it 



appeared indispensable. To wait until synod could 
deliberate on the subject and start such a new pub- 
lication seemed inadvisable. Officially I had no more 
call to undertake it than others who felt the need of 
it, but as I was managing the paper in which most 
of the articles of our synodical brethren appeared, 
our German paper being smaller and issued only semi- 
monthly, I was by many expected in some way to 
provide for the emergency, and as I felt the necessity 
as much as any of them, I reflected much on ways and 
means to supply the lack. My conclusion was to pub- 
lish, at my own risk, a bi-monthly periodical of 64 
pages, and accordingly the Columbus Theological 
Magazine appeared in 1881. So little was this thought 
a needless venture that when Synod met it not only 
accepted it as its own organ, but resolved to publish 
a similar periodical in German, so that those capable 
of using both languages could have a theological jour- 
nal of 64 pages each month, the two being published 
alternately. We were thus well equipped for the 
war without divesting our papers designed for the peo- 
ple generally of their popular character. How vigor- 
ously this war was carried on is evinced by the fact, 
that the Missourian German theological journal was 

much enlarged and a similar periodical in the English 

317 



&totp of S## %itt 



language was started, but proved a failure. My ven- 
ture upon the Magazine, although it was begun with- 
out the preliminary work considered necessary to ob- 
tain subscribers, subjected me to little, if any, financial 
loss, as with the help of my family, proceeding as 
we had done when we took charge of the Standard in 
its poverty and distress, I managed the business and 
did the drudgery work myself. Both periodicals did 
good service to the Church, and are doing good ser- 
vice until this day, although neither of them has the 
circulation they ought to have or has been pecuniarily 
profitable, as both of them might be if more interest 
were shown in their prosperity by those whom they 
are designed to serve. 

My editorial labors were always performed in con- 
nection with the work of my calling proper, and thus 
occupied a second place in the line of my official duties, 
but they formed a large portion of my toils and trou- 
bles. When I was gradually relieved of portions of 
the work and finally, when age with its infirmities 
was creeping upon me and the burden was becoming 
unsupportable, of all editorial duties, I felt like a gen- 
tleman of leisure, with nothing but my double profes- 
sorship to engage my attention. But as I look back 
over my long editorial career with its toil and travail, 



318 



btotn ot S#g %itt 



its hardships and harassments, but also its pleasures 
and triumphs, my first thought is not one of com- 
plaint that my lot was so hard, but of thankfulness to 
God for the wide opportunity which He gave me to 
serve Him in the great Church of the Reformation, 
and the grace with which He sustained me and blessed 
the work which He enabled me to perform. 

I did not cease to use my pen in the service of the 
Church when my editorial responsibility ceased. I 
use it still, and still in the cause to which I desired 
my life to be wholly consecrated. To this day I have 
continued to be a not infrequent contributor to the 
columns and pages of our periodicals, both English 
and German, and even now, though old and infirm 
and enfeebled by sickness, I have the satisfaction of 
knowing that my brethren still welcome the articles 
which God gives me grace and strength to write. I 
have much reason to think that my editorial work was 
not the least of the contributions I was enabled to 
make towards the maintenance of the pure faith which 
the Evangelical Lutheran Church confesses. 



319 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PROFESSOR. 

NO doubt it must to many have seemed a rash 
act on my part to accept an office so high and 
so responsible as that of a theological professorship 
in Capital University. Taking such positions and the 
men who fill them in our Church in Europe as the 
standard of measurement, my abilities were manifestly 
inadequate, and if I had fancied myself in possession 
of the necessary qualifications for it, I could only have 
made myself ridiculous. But the application of such 
a standard under existing conditions was out of the 
question. We had neither a great University, nor 
great men, and had to adapt ourselves to the day of 
small things, and were thankful for the great blessings 
which God bestowed upon us in and through our small 
institution. The one professor of Theology, who was 
overburdened with work in our Seminary, was not a 
great man as the world counts greatness, but he was 
doing a good work which, in the sight of God and of 
His children, was truly great. My brethren did not 

make themselves ridiculous when they called me to 

320 



fetotg of 9pg %ite 



his assistance, and I did not subject myself to any just 
ridicule when I considered and finally accepted the 
call. We had, in the years of counsel and consulta- 
tion preceding my election, more than once thought 
of calling some man of eminence from a German Uni- 
versity, and always agreed that the plan was not feas- 
ible. Although for a while I favored it, for I was not 
entirely unaffected by the dreams of great things which 
so often supplied motives for deeds that were done in 
the early days of our University, I afterwards saw 
how injudicious such a course would be in our situa- 
tion, and am glad that wiser counsels prevailed. I do 
not remember that in all our consultations, frequently 
as it was reiterated that we must strive to find the 
right man among ourselves, my name was ever men- 
tioned for the place. The fact that I was unanimously 
chosen at the meeting of Joint Synod in 1864 indi- 
cates that my name was probably mentioned more 
than once when I was not present, but so far as I can 
recollect I received no intimation of it until I was 
nominated and elected at Synod. Whatever opinion I 
may have had of my gifts and attainments, I could not, 
as a servant of the Lord, treat the call lightly, but had 
finally to concur in the judgment of Prof. Lehmann 

that though we would not, he and I, constitute a bril- 
21 321 



fetorg of 9pg %itt 



liant Faculty, we could, with the Lord's blessing upon 
faithful effort, do the necessary work. I accepted the 
call and in March, 1865, began my labors in Columbus 
as professor. 

There were other things besides the question of 
qualification, which I was content to let the brethren 
who knew me long and well decide, that made my 
new position difficult. With Prof. Lehmann, whose 
junior colleague I became in the Seminary, I had not 
always agreed in our long controversy on the Church 
and Ministry and some practical questions growing 
out of it. I was regarded as a pronounced Missourian ; 
he had been looked upon as leaning towards Grabau- 
ianism on the subjects in dispute. The fact probably 
is that he was influenced but little by Pastor Grabau's 
hierarchical contention and in some points was not at 
all in harmony with him, but that he did dislike Mis- 
souri, and in his conversation was disposed to defend 
practices which had been long observed in the Ohio 
Synod, but which Missourians justly assailed as incon- 
sistent with confessional Lutheranism. This made 
him seem on Grabau's side in his conflict with Mis- 
souri. It could therefore not appear strange if some 
had doubts whether the two professors, who had often 

stood in opposing ranks on the floor of Synod, could 

322 



fetorg of S^g %it t 



get along with each other in the Seminary. I had no 
reason to share these doubts, or to allow them to inter- 
fere with my purpose and effort. Notwithstanding 
our tilts we had always been good friends. I never 
ceased to cherish the feelings toward him which are 
due from a former pupil towards his teacher, and so 
far as I was aware he always gave me due credit for 
the uprightness of my intentions and the purity of my 
zeal for the Lord's work. Moreover, the controversy 
within our Synod was nearing a satisfactory close. 
Theses had already been adopted which, if they did 
not set forth the truth as lucidly as seemed to me de- 
sirable, still declared that truth, showing that in the 
great principles involved we were a unit, and the dan- 
ger of a rupture was past. Notwithstanding my col- 
league's antipathy to Missouri, and especially to some 
rude and inconsiderate Missourian methods, the diffi- 
culty of our getting along harmoniously together, both 
of us being intent on serving the Lord, did not seem 
to me great. 

There was another obstacle that appeared to me 
more formidable. How should I manage to make full 
proof of my professorship under conditions so unfa- 
vorable for exerting all my powers in its behalf ? Had 

I been free to devote my whole time and energy to 

323 



&torg ot 9®v JLitz 



the work, such a question would have little relevancy. 
But I had the Standard on my hands, had the presi- 
dency of Joint Synod to administer, had the house- 
fathership of the institution to attend to, and my share 
of the general synodical work in committees thrown 
in for good measure. No other provision could at once 
be made for the editorship which had just come to me 
a year before, and the paper was far yet from having 
reached a sound financial basis ; and the housefather- 
ship was for the time an important item in my call as 
Professor. Declining further to bear the burdens 
which Synod had previously laid upon me would have 
been equivalent to refusing to accept the new call, 
which implied that I should resign my charge of a 
congregation and give my entire time and strength 
to synodical work, retaining all that I had hitherto, 
but substituting the professorship for the pastorate. 
These conditions caused me much more anxiety than 
any fears that Professor Lehmann and I would find it 
impossible to live together and work together in peace. 
And yet I accepted the call and went to work with a 
determination by the grace of God to quit myself as 
a workman who, considering all the circumstances 
that hampered me, needeth not be ashamed. 

But I hardly had a fair chance in the beginning 
324 



Movv nt $®y %iit 



of my proper professional career to remove any doubts 
that might be lingering in the minds of brethren, 
whether my appointment would not prove a mistake. 
While my resolution was fixed, that the other work 
which it behooved me to do should not unnecessarily 
interfere with my duties as Professor, which I would 
not but regard as my chief vocation, and while I strove 
so to arrange my work that all would be done in due 
order at the proper time, so that clashing interferences 
would not be necessary, there were some duties incum- 
bent on me as housefather which could not be thus 
regulated, though certain hours could be definitely 
appointed when students might freely consult me, 
emergencies which seemed to justify calling me, or 
calling upon me, at other hours than those appointed 
were so frequent and sometimes so urgent, that no rule 
of order could protect me against the trespass on time 
otherwise allotted. As the time set apart for prepara- 
tion was thus sometimes greatly infringed upon, I 
could not do full justice to the preparatory work in 
my study, which might not much embarrass an experi- 
enced teacher, but which could not fail to cause anxiety 
and mar the teaching in a beginner. And there was 
another circumstance that worked against me. Whilst 
I was rusty in all branches, even those which were 

325 



&t0t# ot 9®t %itt 



assigned me in college, and could not without devoting 
the proper time to preparation for it enter the class 
room with any assurance, the first branch that I was 
required to teach in the Seminary was one about which 
I knew little, and for which I never had a liking. It 
was a trying situation. A man who knows how to 
study, and who applies himself with diligence to his 
task can, of course, keep in advance of his students, 
and may conceal from them the unfortunate fact that 
he is not master of his subject. The circumstances 
under which, all things being considered, this is the 
best that can be done, it may be permitted ; and much 
must be tolerated in a beginner, who will do things 
better when by experience he becomes more able. I 
moved along with the class, notwithstanding my lack 
of enthusiasm for the subject, and when I had my 
second class in Isagogics, which is the distasteful 
branch referred to, I not only got along better, but by 
disregarding what I thought useless in the text book 
formerly employed and substituting an outline of the 
contents of the Biblical books by way of introduction 
to their study, I think it made the subject much more 
interesting and its study much more profitable. But 
my first year put me to a hard trial, and it is a signal 
manifestation of the goodness of God that my hard 

326 



&tot$ ot 9®v Hit 



work was not pronounced a failure and my friends 
were not discouraged, as probably would have been 
the case if my wrestling with Isagogics had consti- 
tuted the sum of my labors. 

It would not be correct, if I stated it as my recol- 
lection that the initial year of my professorship was 
one of positive unhappiness. At least part of the 
worry which I experienced was expected and I was 
prepared for it ; and some of my labors were satisfac- 
tory to me, and I think to all concerned. Probably 
the most of my disturbing experiences were such as 
are incident to all efforts in an untried field, and the 
humiliations were mostly a consequence not of indica- 
tions that my work was not appreciated by others, 
but of my consciousness that it fell far short of my 
ideal and aim, and was thus subject to severe criticism 
by my own judgment. 

I kept in close communication with my Lord, and 
my soul was at peace, notwithstanding the felt imper- 
fection of my labors. I was not unhappy. Never for 
a moment did I entertain the idea of retiring from the 
field because of the heat and burden of the day. My 
thought was that I must do better, and by the grace of 
God would do better, and my trust and endeavors were 
not put to shame. But it was a severe probation, ren- 

327 



&tm# ot $®$ %itt 



dered all the more severe because I did not enjoy 
robust health and because the order and discipline of 
the school was far from satisfactory. While only the 
order of the house, not the general supervision of the 
school, was placed under my care, the one necessarily 
affected the other. Since the time of the Reynolds 
regime there had been a lack of punctuality all around. 
This worked injuriously, as it always must, though 
some good men fail to see it. And this troubled me. 
Boys would not easily be led to recognize the evil of 
that which some of the teachers practiced, although 
their logic was evidently at fault when they argued 
that what was excusable in the teacher, could not be 
wrong in the pupil. In some instances, too, I would 
not admit that a teacher's absence, when the time for 
recitation had arrived, was excusable. To look after 
that was not my business, but as I had a proper inter- 
est in the prosperity of our institution, it certainly con- 
cerned me, and in so far concerned me more than 
others, as I was the housefather and had to see to it 
that our students learned to observe order. It required 
all the wisdom of which I was capable to do my duty 
towards the boys without seeming to be a busybody 
about other men's matters. Prof. Lehmann, who was 
President and whose duty it was to see that the classes 

328 



fetotg of $®t %iU 



were properly and promptly attended to, was by reason 
of his other avocations not only unable to perform 
this function of his office, but unable to be punctual 
himself in the class-room. He was pastor of a large 
congregation, and frequently pastoral duties detained 
him many minutes beyond the time for his lectures, 
sometimes even for an hour or more, so that the stu- 
dents were never sure when they would be called to 
recite. His hours were when he rang his bell ; that is 
about all that was certain. One or two of the other 
teachers had accustomed themselves to consult their 
own convenience more than was meet, as regards this 
point, and scarcely placed punctuality in the category 
of a teacher's virtues. Years passed before we suc- 
ceeded in ridding ourselves of an evil that reflected 
so little credit on our school. But things became grad- 
ually better, and I carried my burdens with better 
cheer. 

Meantime our synodical work was improving in 
other directions. The conflicts on the Church and 
Ministry question had wellnigh ceased, and brethren 
had generally laid aside the distrust which some enter- 
tained during the heat of the strife. Our relations as 
members of the Faculty were all that could be desired. 
Prof. Lehmann still differed with me in regard to some 

329 



&tot£ of 9£# JLitt 



persons and things, but our intercourse with each 
other was fraternally cordial. So far as was appar- 
ent, he was the only one of the teachers who dissented 
from some of my views on synodical questions, and 
he rarely objected to recommendations which I thought 
it necessary to make as President of Synod. The only 
real trouble that remained was the strangely disloyal 
attitude of the majority of our English District to- 
wards the Joint Synod in its stubborn refusal to co- 
operate with us on the secret society question, notwith- 
standing its repeated declaration that we were right 
in opposing lodgery and that they were as sincere as 
we in their opposition to the evil. Even the Missou- 
rians, who had found so much fault with us, often not 
without reason, but sometimes seemingly from habit, 
saw that we conscientiously endeavored to establish 
purely Lutheran congregations and were faithful in 
our adherence to the Lutheran confessions in doctrine 
and practice and spoke more kindly of us, so that even 
my colleague in the Seminary became more concilia- 
tory. 

When the rupture took place in the General Synod 
and the Ministerium of Pennsylvania issued its call 
for a convention of Lutheran Synods accepting our 
Confessions, with the view of forming a new general 

330 



fetorp ot ^ %iit 



organization of a more decidedly Lutheran character, 
our Synod cheerfully accepted the invitation to co-op- 
erate, and Prof. Lehmann and I, who were in full 
accord with the object, were delegated to attend the 
Convention at Reading in December of 1866. I went 
there with the sincere desire to assist, to the full ex- 
tent of my power, in accomplishing the end. My hopes 
were not as sanguine as those of some of the Pennsyl- 
vanians, who had gone out of the General Synod in 
despair of ever making that a soundly Lutheran body. 
Our controversies had convinced me that to this end 
something more was needed than the leaders in the 
new movement had hitherto contended for in their 
former connection, and I did not harbor the delusion 
that the deliberations of a few days would remove all 
differences between us. 

But circumstances were favorable to a calm dis- 
cussion of vital questions regarding the unity of the 
Church, and getting together and ultimately growing 
together, by participation in the same life with its 
divine power, did not seem to me impossible. As I 
was honored with the appointment, which I accepted 
with trembling, to preach the opening sermon, I had 
a good opportunity to say, at the very outset, what in 

my judgment the situation required, and I said it as 

331 



&toi$ of 9®$ %Ht 



plainly and as frankly as if I had been addressing 
our own Synod; which always gave me credit for 
meaning what I say and not leaving in doubt what 
I mean. The sermon was well received; not a com- 
plaint was made that its note was too high; the 
speeches and actions of the Convention were pitched 
in the same key, and all was harmonious. Even those 
few who dissented, when it was resolved to organize 
the new union of synods, did not object to the basis, 
but thought that further conferences should be held 
before organizing the General Council. So far all 
was well, and to me the outlook was even more 
hopeful when the Convention adjourned than when it 
was opened. 

The days at Reading are among the delightful 
memories of my life. I had the joy of meeting there 
some of the ablest men in the Lutheran Church and 
hearing them express a love for the Church as it 
burned in my own soul and uttering it in words of 
eloquence which I could not command. In the dis- 
cussions at the Convention and in the conversations 
at our lodgings there was uniformly the same mani- 
festation not only of intellectual power, but also of 
ardent devotion to Christ and His Church. The im- 
pression which I received was such that it would 

332 



&totg ot S£g Etfe 



have seemed strange, if I had found it in my heart 
to say that I could not join these men in their stren- 
uous efforts to secure a fitting place in our favored 
land for the glorious Church of the Reformation. It 
was a pleasant experience, though the results were 
not such as I had hoped. There was an insurmount- 
able obstacle which had not yet appeared in the trans- 
actions at Reading, but the existence of which was 
no doubt suspected, if not certainly known, by the 
few who maintained that the time had not yet come 
for a regular organization, but that further prepara- 
tions should be made for it in free conferences. Con- 
fessing in words, and following up that confession by 
corresponding acts, are tw r o distinct things. That is 
what caused the trouble. 

If my purpose in life had been shaped by the 
desires of the flesh, my trip to Reading might have 
resulted in changing my whole subsequent career. 
My colleague and I had agreed to make a little ex- 
cursion, after the Convention, to visit his relations in 
Philadelphia and vicinity. This becoming known, I 
was requested by two of the pastors in that city to 
preach there on the following Sunday, to which I 
reluctantly consented. Another pastor apologized to 

me for not inviting me to perform the same service 

333^ 



Mm ot 9®y %iU 



in his church, as arrangements previously made pre- 
cluded this courtesy. Evidently views of such mat- 
ters in the East were different from those prevailing 
among us, and I was constrained to reply that not 
the least apology was due, but that I rather regarded 
it as a favor to be relieved of the necessity of making 
an apology for declining, to which he answered that 
such opportunities to preach in influential churches 
sometimes led to results very beneficial for the visit- 
ing preachers. From all I could gather I concluded 
that my Philadelphia friends designed to honor me 
by their invitations, and even incidentally do me a 
not unimportant favor by laying on me the task of pre- 
paring and preaching sermons among strangers, in- 
stead of permitting me to enjoy a few days of leisure 
and of pleasure in visiting friends. On Sunday morn- 
ing I occupied Dr. Krotel's pulpit in St. Mark's 
Church, and all the indications were that I preached 
acceptably. The pastor, who himself conducted the 
services at the altar, made a few remarks, giving the 
congregation some information about me and compli- 
menting me and my sermon more than was merited, 
but all in good taste and without any gushing flatteries 
that would make a modest man hide his face in shame. 

Dr. Krotel was about to remove to New York, and 

334 



^torg ot S$» %\U 



was looking about for a successor. The subject was 
broached to me on that occasion and in letters after- 
wards. He frankly informed me that he desired me 
to become his successor, not only in his congregation, 
but also in the Philadelphia Seminary. An official 
letter also came to me from the congregation, inquir- 
ing about the prospects of my entertaining a call. If 
money or social standing or honors had been my aim, 
the opportunity might have been seized with avidity. 
As it was, I could not otherwise than think that the 
place assigned me here in Columbus is the one in 
which I can do most good for the cause to which 
my life has been devoted, and I could give no encour- 
agement to any movements looking to my transfer 
to another field. No doubt it was also in some way 
owing to acquaintance formed in my Reading jour- 
ney that another congregation, in a different Eastern 
city, communicated with me in regard to its vacant 
pastorate, and was answered in the same way. I 
was becoming accustomed to the work of my profes- 
sorship, had won the confidence of my brethren, was 
supplied with all the necessaries of life, and enjoyed 
the blessing of God in all my various labors: why 
should I yield to any solicitations to enter another 
field, unless my Lord should give me clear indications 

335 



&Uvv of 9®V %iit 



that He, who had given me grace to be His willing 
servant, wanted me elsewhere. 

Our Synod sent a committee to the meeting of 
representatives of the various Synods which organ- 
ized the General Council in the following year. This 
committee was instructed to submit certain questions, 
answers to which were considered necessary in order 
to decide whether we could unite with the new body 
or not. These formed the famous "four points," 
which have been a subject of controversy ever since. 
There were among the leaders of the Pennsylvanians 
some men who were known to be advocates of the 
doctine called Chiliasm, and at least one of them was 
distinguished as a leading writer in the party en- 
deavoring to disseminate that error in different Chris- 
tian denominations. The Council formally accepted 
the Augsburg Confession, in which those who put it 
forth as the declaration of their faith say, that "They 
condemn others also who now scatter Jewish opinions 
that before the resurrection of the dead the godly shall 
occupy the kingdom of the world, the wicked being 
everywhere suppressed." What we desired to know 
of the Council was whether it joined with us in the 
condemnation of this false doctrine. It might have 

seemed unnecessary and, as the Council had unre- 

336 







W 
> 

3 

< 




fetotp of 9$v %itt 



servedly adopted the Augsburg Confession as its own, 
even offensive to ask such a question, as the asking 
manifestly implied some doubt about the matter; but 
the circumstances were such as not only to warrant, but 
to require a definite declaration on the point. The 
same was the case with regard to the two questions 
embracing the subject of unionism with other churches, 
that of exchange of pulpits by our pastors with pas- 
tors of churches of a different confession and that 
of promiscuous communion, or of admitting members 
of other churches to the Lord's Supper in our con- 
gregations. As in the acceptance of our Confession 
the Council rejected the errors which conflict with the 
truth thus confessed, this might have seemed sufficient 
to guarantee the Council's agreement with us in the 
rejection of all unionistic practices. But we knew 
what most of the synods now represented in that body 
had heretofore been doing in this respect, notwith- 
standing their professed adoption of our Lutheran 
Confession as their standard, and therefore could not, 
without sinful indifference respecting a matter of 
serious import, assume that now all would be so 
changed that no practice offensive to us and injurious 
to our work would be sanctioned. Indeed, if it was 

the purpose of the Council henceforth to adopt a prac- 
22 337 



fetorg of 9te %itt 



tice in consistency with its confession, what we desired 
of it was as needful for its own sake as for ours, 
because those who had been pursuing a different 
course would have had a right to know what was to be 
expected, as we had the duty of ascertaining, if we 
could with a good conscience share the responsibility 
of what it proposed to do in a matter of such grave 
importance. The answer given us was ample proof 
that our caution was none too great. The Council 
was not prepared to give a response that could satisfy 
a synod which had fought its way through hostile 
crowds of indifferentists and liberalists and unionists 
to a position of confessional Lutheranism without re- 
servations, and with such sincerity of profession as 
carried with it the conviction that our practice must 
needs be in harmony with it. The Council could not 
be brought to accept as heartily the negative as the 
positive declaration of our Confession, and we were 
therefore not agreed and could not walk together. 

To me this subject was often embarrassing, as 
my position was such, not only as a theological pro- 
fessor, but also as President of our Synod and editor 
of our English paper, that to keep silent would have 
been neglecting duty. It was not that the subject itself 
was perplexing. To understand it did not appear to 



338 



fetotg of S#g %itt 



me very difficult. If Christ is our Saviour, those who 
teach that He is not are false teachers whom we must 
avoid ; whether in the eyes of the community they are 
otherwise good men or bad men, has nothing to do 
with the question. If the doctrines which the Lu- 
theran Church confesses are the very truth of the 
gospel, the doctrines of other churches which are con- 
fessedly in opposition to hers must be false, and so 
far subversive of the gospel ; and therefore with the 
same faith and fervor with which the former are up- 
held the latter must be opposed. If the Lutheran 
Church confesses the very truth of God, which has been 
graciously revealed for the enlightenment and salva- 
tion of all men, the Roman and the Reformed Churches 
which fight against any portion of that truth, are so 
far fighting against God, and must not in any man- 
ner be supported or encouraged in that fight, and can- 
not be without sin. If we Lutherans are in conscience 
bound to teach our children the precious gospel truth 
contained in our Catechism, and to make their accept- 
ance of that truth the condition of their reception to 
Holy Communion in our churches, we are doubly 
bound not to admit members of other churches, who 
by such membership have been upholding contrary 
doctrines, so long as they refuse to fulfill the con- 

339 



mot$ of m %nt 



ditions of communion from which our own people 
cannot be dispensed. The subject itself is plain, and 
becomes intricate and tangled only by the introduc- 
tion of irrevelant matter, with which sophistical union- 
ists are apt to muddle it and mislead the unwary. 
But circumstances rendered it a delicate subject. I 
could not conceal from myself the fact, that there 
was a fault in professing a truth to be an article of 
our Lutheran faith and at the same time refusing 
to treat it as such in dealing with members of other 
denominations who deny that truth. It would be re- 
garded as uncharitable, or even unjust to affirm that, 
so far as it is possible to judge from the data given, 
the article confessed must in such a case be considered 
a mere human opinion, which need not be maintained 
as against those who hold a contrary opinion ; or that 
the truth in regard to the point at issue is not part 
of the clear revelation of God's will, to which Holy 
Scripture bears testimony by divine inspiration. The 
appearance unquestionably is that professed Lutherans 
by their unionistic action practically declare, that while 
they hold the Lutheran Confession to be true, they 
will not deny that opposite doctrines may be true also. 
The result would thus be that in their opinion either 
the distinctive doctrines of the Lutheran Church must 

340 



fetorg of $®v %itt 



be classed with human opinions which have no clear 

warrant in God's Word, or that this Word is not of 

such absolute authority that such doctrines could be 

rightfully maintained when a multitude of men, whose 

Christian character is not denied, refuse to accept 

them. There were abler men in the General Council 

than the Ohio Synod possessed, and these were men 

whose earnest purpose to serve the Lord none of us 

disputed. But their unionistic position was wrong, 

and we had to oppose it, even though some of them 

should complain that we treated them harshly. We 

had to speak of their practices as inconsistent with 

their profession, and of their Lutheranism as so far 

lacking in soundness and thoroughness; and thus to 

let them explain and defend their position as best they 

could without admitting their inconsistency in the face 

of the manifest discrepancy between their profession 

and their practice. To this day they have not been 

able to do this to the satisfaction of Lutherans who 

sincerely and unreservedly accept the articles of the 

Confession as the adequate expression of their own 

faith founded on the authority of God's revelation of 

His truth, which we are in conscience bound to hold 

fast, in no case and under no circumstances and on no 

ground to surrender. It is a great pity that the Coun- 

341 



&totg nt Q®v %\tt 



cil permitted the truth to be obscured by considerations 
of courtesy, and error to be upheld by such arguments 
as that there are Christians in other churches as well 
as in the Lutheran, which we never denied, but which 
has nothing to do with the question in controversy. 
That which our Lord has made obligatory on His 
ministers in the administration of the means of grace 
is not to judge the hearts of the people, which is 
His own prerogative, but to see that they confess 
Him and His Word. The Council was undermining 
its foundation when it virtually contended that visible 
churches are not to be judged by their confession, but 
by the hearts of their members, and made concessions 
to erring churches which placed them on an equality 
with the Church of the pure gospel and sacrament: 
and it was deceiving itself when it represented our 
contention as involving the fanatical claim of sinless 
perfection in the lives of church members. We asked 
neither the refusal to recognize other denominations 
as churches nor their members as Christians: some 
of them undoubtedly are, and some, their confession 
being judged by the Word of God as the infallible 
rule of faith and life, are not, because the only foun- 
dation upon which Christians stand and can stand is 
openly renounced : but that was not at all the point in 

?42 



&totg of 9pg JLitt 



controversy, and dragging in such irrelevancies was 
no indication that the one great desire of our oppo- 
nents was to secure a victory for the truth. Nor was 
it correct to charge that we demanded of them at 
once to rid themselves of the leaven of unionism, which 
we had been laboring for many years to purge out 
of our own synod, without even now being entirely 
free from its influence. We never made such a de- 
mand, and with our convictions could not make it. 
But what we did ask, and had a right to expect, was 
that the Council should take a firm Lutheran position 
in doctrine and practice, and accordingly declare itself 
m opposition to exchange of pulpits with ministers of 
other denominations and to communion at the sacra- 
mental altar with members of other churches, because 
that which makes them other churches are the false 
doctrines which separate them from us and which our 
Confession condemns. I tried to be faithful to Christ 
in the struggle for truth and right, and my only regret 
now is, that the Council persisted in its unjustifiable 
course and thus defeated its professed purpose and 
failed to realize the hopes of the most decided and 
zealous Lutherans in the land. The Council, though 
it has spoken many good words for confessional Lu- 

theranism, still occupies the same indefensible position 

343 



motv of s^g %tu 



in regard to Lutheran practice, and our contention 
remains the same. We are divided on a vital matter. 
The subject of secret societies, which forms the 
fourth in the questions laid by our Joint Synod be- 
fore the General Council, was perhaps as perplexing 
to that body as the other three, and no answer was 
ready. Probably most of its members had opinions 
on the subject, but they were not prepared to express 
them just then and there; for it was very likely that 
these opinions would clash. It would be worldly 
wise to say nothing. Some of its members were re- 
ported to be themselves members of secret fraternities ; 
some of their congregations swarmed with them; a 
number no doubt had read and seen and heard enough 
of them and their doings, and thought enough about 
them, to take a stand in opposition to their principles 
and proceedings. Policy would dictate silence in cir- 
cumstances so precarious and so embarrassing, and 
the Council declared that it was not ready for a de- 
liverance defining its position on the question which 
manifestly threatened trouble. The four points, which 
especially challenged consideration preparatory to the 
formation of a Lutheran union of Synods on a sound 
and permanent basis, were thus evaded, and the eva- 
sion closed the door against us and others who stood 

344 



fetorp of S#p JLitt 



with us in contending for confessional Lutheranism 
with corresponding Lutheran practice, which should 
show by acts that we mean what we declare in words. 
Thirty-eight years have passed since then, but I still 
think as I did then, that the Council, by its policy of 
evasion and silence, instead of open and frank con- 
fession, and the discussion and controversy and sift- 
ing to which this would have led, made the mistake 
which incapacitated it to become the stronghold of Lu- 
theranism which it might have been in this country. 
To us the lodge question brought more immediate 
trouble than the Council's action on the other three 
points. Our reorganized English District was not in 
full harmony with the Joint Synod on that subject. 
When the majority of our former English District 
had voted, at Wooster in 1855, to withdraw from us 
and unite with the General Synod, another English 
District, after an interval of a few years, was formed. 
The Joint Synod gave its consent to this because our 
English work plainly required it. But besides the 
few pastors and congregations that really needed it, 
there were some in other Districts who were disposed 
to join it without needing it. A few of our ministers 
sympathized with Pastor Henkel, who was a Mason 

and who made us some trouble on account of our anti- 

345 



&totp of S$P %itt 



lodge resolutions. He and his friends went with the 
English members, and the new English District be- 
came the rallying ground for disaffected members of 
our Synod. We had tried to deal charitably and kindly 
with the District, but when we thought that all would 
yet be well, one or the other would start an opposition 
again, whenever our trumpet gave forth a clear sound 
against lodgery. The discipline required and prom- 
ised against manifest offenders had not yet been ad- 
ministered by the English District, and when the 
Council was organized a majority had been secured, 
and the District, in spite of the Joint Synod's action 
and without its permission, went into the Council, 
where it was cordially received and of which it was 
thenceforth a part. Whether the members thought 
that they could belong to our Synod and to the Coun- 
cil at the same time, though these two bodies could 
not agree, I do not know. Some remarks and actions 
indicated that this was thought to be possible. At any 
rate the District did not formally withdraw from our 
Synod, and the trouble with it was therefore not 
ended when it became a District of the Council. As 
President of the Joint Synod I still had some unpleas- 
ant duties to perform towards it and regarding it, 
and I performed them. To our Joint Synod the case 

346 



fetorg ot $®v JLite 



was clear, and at its meeting in 1868 it took the action 
necessary to effect a final decision. When the English 
District met at Lima in the following year, 1869, 
matters were brought to a crisis. 

I thought it my duty to attend that meeting, not 
only as President of Joint Synod, but, after consulta- 
tions with my friends, with a view of transferring my 
membership from the Western to the English District. 
It seemed to me a duty to help the brethren in that 
District who were still loyal to our cause, but who 
were unable to effect anything against the disaffected 
party, who had more skillful and less scrupulous 
leaders. I had nothing to conceal : my intention was 
to become a member of the English District. Ac- 
cording to our regulation and custom I had a perfect 
right to take part in the proceedings at its meetings 
without such a transfer of my membership to that 
body. Our rule was that the members of any Dis- 
trict, being thus members of Joint Synod, should have 
voice and vote at the meetings of any other District, 
although it was obligatory upon them to attend the 
meetings only of the District to which they especially 
belonged. My right to take part in the proceedings 
at Lima could therefore not be disputed with any 

appearance of loyalty to Synod. I had rights also as 

347 



&totv of 9^ %iit 



President of Joint Synod, whose interests I was called 
to maintain and against which the dominant party in 
the English District was waging a war of rebellion. 
My convictions and sentiments were well known, and 
my purpose to attend the meeting at Lima in the in- 
terest of Joint Synod was also made known. The 
President of the District, who was more of a poli- 
tician than a theologian, and who had been a strenu- 
ous advocate of hierarchial notions in the Church and 
Ministry controversy, with a special repugnance 
against everything that savored of Missouri, was en- 
raged when he heard of my purpose, and used all 
his shrewdness to be ready for a battle. A repre- 
sentative of the Council in the person of Dr. Passa- 
vant, an honored and influential man, was also on 
hand. After the opening services the President dis- 
charged his explosives in lieu of the usual presidential 
report. It was a curious affair. To call it an angry, 
furious declaration of war would not fairly character- 
ize it. It rather assumed that the war was madly 
raging and now the commander, in wild excitement, 
shouted a fierce harangue, exhorting his henchmen 
to "strike till the last armed foe expired." The ex- 
plosion was horrible and the whole scene was one of 
amazement, in which, while nobody was hurt, nobody 

348 



fetotp of 9®y %itt 



could think of anything to say or do. When matters 
had quieted a little I arose and courteously addressed 
the chair, but the President curtly informed me that 
I had no business there and could claim no right. I 
managed to secure an appeal from his despotic action, 
but a majority sustained the President. Even those 
who were yet in sympathy with the Joint Synod ap- 
peared nonplussed by the high hand with which the 
enraged warrior in the chair carried out his ugly will, 
and his friends, even if they saw or felt how right- 
eousness was being trodden under foot, had not the 
heart, in such a moment of storm and stress, to ven- 
ture any remark or motion that might arouse still 
more the doughty President's ire. Little could be done 
by private suggestion to friends, as to the truth and 
the right and the demands of law and order, as long 
as the only right and law recognized by the chair 
was the chairman's will. 

Accordingly, Bro. Baughman declared to Synod 
his purpose to withdraw, and requested all those who 
desired to remain in the Joint Synod to go with him, 
with a view to reorganize the English District in har- 
mony with Joint Synod's position. A goodly number, 
though it was a minority of the body, at once arose 

and left the meeting. They assembled in another 

349 



fetotg of St£# %itt 



locality, elected officers, and were duly recognized 
as the English District of the Joint Synod, while the 
turbulent party remained in the General Council. To 
this it would of necessity have come at last, and Bro. 
Baughman's movement was by no means premature, 
as free speech was at an end in the Council District. 
The President even had the effrontery to say that I 
could be received into that body only on condition 
of pledging myself to co-operate with the majority 
in its rebellious warfare against our Ohio Synod. Of 
course I connected myself with our District, as did 
also the candidates who had come from our Sem- 
inary. Relieved now of the turbulent and trouble- 
some element, our English District grew and pros- 
pered, and with God's blessing upon it has been, 
during all these many years since, earnestly engaged 
in building up the Church in full accord with Joint 
Synod, in peace and with great success. 

It was difficult for me to give a clear account of 
the struggle at that stormy meeting without saying 
some painful things, which may have appeared unduly 
severe in regard to persons. I find it difficult to do 
so now, when it would not be natural to suppose that 
passion rather than deliberate judgment guides my 
pen. No amount of special pleading and whitewash- 

350 



&tot# of 9®V %itt 



ing can ever annul the fact that gross wrong was 
done by the Council District, wholly aside from the 
main point of fidelity to the Lutheran Church, and 
by those who aided the erring party in their warfare 
against us. I sometimes spoke and wrote with warmth, 
because my heart was in harmony with my judgment, 
and I could not do otherwise without calling forth the 
rebuke of my own conscience. 

That I could not speak approvingly of the part 
which Dr. Passavant played in the hostilities, goes 
without saying. I honored him for the good works 
which he had done, but did not honor him for sup- 
porting men that were making us trouble by their 
wrong-doing; and if I, from the standpoint of the 
troublous faction, had no business in Lima, what busi- 
ness could he have there? The Council probably 
never realized the extent of the wrong done us by 
espousing the cause of that disloyal English District, 
and still fails to see how much that wrong contributed 
to the difficulty of finding a way to work peacefully 
side by side, while the more important barrier of 
consistent Lutheran practice keeps us separate from 
each other. 

While we were trying in vain to unite the Lu- 
theran synods in the General Council, our relations to 

351 



fetotp of $®v %iti 



other confessional synods, which like ourselves, could 
not unite with that body because of its denial in prac- 
tice of what it professed in theory, became more 
friendly and, at least in some instances, more fraternal. 
Notably was this the case as regards the Missouri 
Synod. For myself, I never had much difficulty to 
get along peaceably with its members. No doubt 
this was owing to the fact that, from the beginning 
of my ministry, I in the main accepted their doctrine 
and practice as coincident with our Confessions, and 
therefore was often in agreement with them when 
this implied disagreement with some of the brethren 
in our own Synod. For some of these it was not so 
easy to forget old feuds, the remembrance of which 
tended to awaken distrust even when intercourse with 
them seemed cordial. But when agreement in the 
controverted doctrines had been reached, the other 
barriers were gradually torn away, and having the 
same objects in view the relations became continually 
more kindly and confiding. In a conference held be- 
tween us and them, at which Dr. Walther was pres- 
ent, it became evident that there was nothing in the 
way of working together, occupying the same con- 
fessional ground and having the same objection to 

the attitude assumed by the General Council in the 

352 




1. Front Entrance. 

2. The Boarding Hall. 



Capital University. 



3. Recitation Hall. 

4. Christ Church. 



&totp of Q®v JLite 



four points. My desire was still to unite the Lutheran 
Church in this country so far as possible, believing 
that more could be done for its prosperity by united 
than by separate effort, and that duty requires the 
prevention, so far as this may be, of interferences 
with each other's work, There were some others be- 
sides the Missouri Synod with whom we were agreed. 
The Norwegians did not join the Council, the Wis- 
consinians withdrew from it when they saw that 
sound principles of the Lutheran practice would not 
be accepted by that body. There were many who 
were of the same mind with us, and I did what I 
could to bring them together. The charge made by 
men of the Council at the time, that while I was 
favoring measures to make our union with that body 
possible, I had already drawn up plans for another 
general body in opposition to it, was utterly without 
foundation. Evidently the charge was trumped up 
to reflect upon my sincerity and honesty of purpose. 
I never was guilty of such ungodly ways. I was 
sincerely desirous of strengthening our glorious cause 
by effecting a union with the Council until I saw 
that the object in view could not be attained by such 
an alliance; and when this became apparent, I was 
just as sincere and open in my efforts to attain it by 



23 353 



fetotg ot S$g %iU 



union with other synods that, like our own, could 
not find their account in the General Council. Nego- 
tiations along this line were successful, and in 1872 
the Synodical Conference was organized on a sound 
Lutheran basis and with principles that assured a 
consistent Lutheran practice. This was not only the 
largest of all the synodical bodies bearing the Luth- 
eran name, but also the most thoroughly Lutheran 
in word and work. The Ohio Synod heartily joined 
in its formation, and I rejoiced in the attainment of 
a purpose which, in my sight, contained the promise 
of unspeakable blessings. 

For years I was not disappointed in my expecta- 
tions. We worked together with unanimity of pur- 
pose, and being one in our faith and our aim there 
was little collision in devising means for its attain- 
ment, and in the execution of our plans. Sometimes 
vestiges of feelings engendered by past conflicts 
cropped out, but the discussions were frank, and there 
was no need to withhold the expression of honest 
conviction. Yet all the while there was something 
which had a depressing effect on a large portion of 
the membership. The Missouri Synod dominated the 
Conference. It was numerically the strongest of the 
synods united in it, and it was the strongest in intel^ 



354 



fetorp of 9®y JLitt 



lectual power and theological learning. Aside from 
the one master mind which dominated the Missouri 
Synod, this would not have been the case. Other 
synods had men of ability that rendered them the 
equals of the Missourians, with the exception of Dr. 
Walther, who towered above them all. As he was a 
man sincerely devoted to the Lord and to the Evan- 
gelical Lutheran Church, I was glad that we had him 
among us, and was thankful that God had given us 
so powerful an advocate of a cause so dear to my 
heart. 

But the good thing had its drawbacks. The Mis- 
sourians were conscious of their superiority, and some 
were manifestly proud of it. Among them were not 
lacking weak brethren who manifested this in ways 
bordering on insolence, as though they would say, 
We are the people, but who are you? That was not 
the spirit of Dr. Walther and of the chief men among 
them. But even Dr. Walther was not wholly free 
from contributing to the depression. I do not think 
that he was of an arrogant and domineering dispo- 
sition, but his experience was such that his demeanor 
not unseldom assumed that appearance. He was ac- 
customed to have his doctrinal statements accepted 
as indisputably correct and his judgment assented to 



355 



fetotg ot 9®v Witt 



as decisive and final. He could brook no public con- 
tradiction when he had spoken. He had become a 
dictator by habit, without claiming to be this or to 
have any authority for it. This had the effect of 
inducing men to be silent when they should have 
spoken, preferring not to express their dissent when 
this might be followed by unpleasant situations. Once 
an important subject of discussion was left in such 
a form that I was uneasy, and some others were evi- 
dently not satisfied. We secured the appointment of 
a committee, composed of one delegate from each of 
the synods represented, to draw up a paper which 
should clearly state what we desired and obviate the 
ambiguity to which objection was raised. The com- 
mittee met and performed its task with perfect unan- 
imity. When we reported, Dr. Walther, who was act- 
ing as moderator, took the paper, glanced over it, and 
laid it aside with the remark that it did not express 
what he contended for and did not furnish what 
was wanted. Nobody said anything, and the paper 
was not submitted to the Conference. On another 
occasion I was constrained to oppose a position which 
he took in support of a thesis that he presented. In 
my judgment the thesis was all right, but the argu- 
ment used to establish it seemed to me to involve a 

356 



feton? ot 3$g %iit 



principle which I regarded as erroneous and which 
might prove dangerous in theory and practice. I 
could not maintain peace of mind without stating my 
objections. Modestly I ventured to speak against his 
position, most sincerely prefacing my remarks with the 
statement, that one thinks twice or thrice before openly 
expressing dissent from a man like my friend, Dr. 
Walther, but that with all his gifts he is not infallible, 
and we owe it to our God and our Church to speak in 
defense of the truth as we see it, even though it be 
against a man whom we all delight to honor. My 
introduction produced such a sensation that my speech 
hardly received the desired attention. To my aston- 
ishment Dr. Walther was seriously offended at my 
remarking, as an excuse for what might seem pre- 
sumption on my part, the fact that he was not infallible. 
He took it as an insinuation that he nursed the delu- 
sion of his own infallibility. He declined to take any 
further part in the discussion of the topic, and finally 
withdrew the part of his paper which had been the 
object of my attack, while the thesis itself was adopted. 
But for several sessions a pall hung over our deliber- 
ations, which was removed only after mutual friends 
arranged for a private meeting between us, that ex- 
planations might be made and misunderstandings re- 

357 



*bt0t# of Q$v %iit 



moved. With such difficulties to contend with, our 
work went on less joyously than our unity of faith 
and purpose would have warranted, though it went 
on prosperously notwithstanding these drawbacks. 
Some of our people were certainly less eager to take 
part in the discussions and transactions of the Confer- 
ence, and less zealous in carrying out its plans, than 
they would have been in other circumstances. They 
did not feel as fully at home there as they did at 
the conventions of our own synod, where no one was 
afraid to say what he thought and felt. 

To these untoward conditions it was at least In 
part attributable that I had sometimes to encounter 
opposition in our own Synod when I advocated plans 
engaging the attention of Conference. This was 
notably the case with regard to State Synods, and 
especially a general Theological Seminary. I could 
not abandon the conviction that by dividing our synods 
according to state lines, so that all the members of 
our different synods within the boundaries of any 
given state would belong to the same District of the 
Conference, many of the dangers threatening our pre- 
sent organizations would be eliminated, and that much 
more could be accomplished for the cause of Luther- 

nism in our land ; and with this was associated in my 

358 



fetotg ot 9®v %iit 



mind the importance of sustaining a common Semi- 
nary for all the State Synods, as a means of welding 
all together by a common interest and educating all 
our ministers in the same school under the influence 
and guidance of the same teachers. This would re- 
quire changes in our whole organization and in all 
arrangements for conducting our work, and it certainly 
was the part of wisdom to give the subject thorough 
consideration before taking decisive action, and to 
move slowly in the execution of the plan. This was 
my sincere wish, and my contention never was that we 
should make a dash towards the goal and do our 
thinking afterwards. But I did hope that a consum- 
mation which in my estimation promised so much for 
the advancement of our beloved Church could in 
due time be secured, and did desire that it should be 
kept in view, and accordingly that nothing should be 
done that would array our synod definitely against the 
whole plan. There were some among us who did not 
entertain this hope, and had no desire that it should ever 
be accomplished. In fact, there were some who could 
not feel at home among the Missourians, and who 
abhorred the thought of putting our institutions in 
any position which would give them share in the con- 
trol of our work. They were in no doubt that the 

359 



fetotg of $$v %itt 



Missouri Synod, as well as the other Synods in our 
Synodical Conference, were soundly and sincerely Lu- 
therans and in that respect were well satisfied to co- 
operate with it in all church work. But they did not 
like the Missouri spirit, and as this dominated the Con- 
ference they would not labor joyously together with 
its members in the meetings of Conference, as they 
could with the brethren of our synod in our synodical 
meetings, though in both the purpose was the same. 
While they were heartily agreed in all that gave the 
Synodical Conference its distinctive character as a 
Lutheran body, they were not happy under the in- 
fluence of some incidental traits that were specifically 
Missourian. As from the beginning of my ministry 
I was in sympathy with the cause which Missouri 
advocated and in the furtherance of which so much 
zeal and self-sacrifice was manifested, I did not feel 
this pressure as much as some others, who alleged that 
they could not breathe freely in the Missourian 
atmosphere. Perhaps I was treated more considerately 
than some others ; perhaps I had myself unconsciously 
imbibed something of the objectionable Missourian 
spirit : at any rate I was not unhappy in my associa- 
tion with them, although I did not fail to see that 
opposition to Dr. Walther could accomplish nothing 

360 



%torg of 9pg JLiit 



and was rarely attempted, and that the uneasiness of 
some brethren did not spring wholly from merely 
imaginary conditions. 

The period in our history in which these debates 
took place was fraught with troubles. We had re- 
moved our institution of learning to its present site, 
and were pressed by the debts incurred in the erec- 
tion of our new buildings; our teaching force was 
inadequate ; the teachers that we had were not promptly 
paid ; and the new plans in connection with the Synod- 
ical Conference, together with the opposition which 
developed, had unsettled our affairs. Perhaps the 
darkest days had come when our Joint Synod met in 
June, 1878. It was to me, especially, a memorable 
meeting. I had just recovered from a severe attack 
of pneumonia, from which for a while my physician 
entertained little hope of my recovery. Prudence dic- 
tated that I should remain at home. But I felt that 
I must go to Wheeling, whatever the consequences 
might be, though my death-like appearance rendered 
me an object of fright and alarm to my friends. God 
in His goodness sustained me, and I was able to attend 
all the sessions of Synod and take some part in its 
proceedings. I prepared my report as President, the 
tone of which was hopeful, though the times were 

361 



fet«# of Q$v %itt 



troublous. The Vice-President, Prof. Lehmann, had 
the kindness to preside, to preach the opening sermon, 
and assume all other duties that belonged to the pre- 
siding officer. Upon my declining under any condi- 
tions to accept the presidency again, he was elected 
to the office. After serving consecutively for eighteen 
years as President it was a great relief to me to have 
this burden removed, as it was a great relief, two 
years before, to have the Synod take back the busi- 
ness management of the Standard, though I was con- 
tinued as its editor. My strength increased day by 
day during the Synod, and I was able to take an 
active part in the discussions, not excepting those per- 
taining to the proposed State Synods and United Semi- 
nary. It was no doubt fortunate that no definite steps 
were taken towards the accomplishment of plans which 
I favored, but I was glad to have an opportunity of 
showing that, whatever hopes we may entertain of 
betterments in the future, we must not allow them to 
interfere with the work that God has given us to do 
in the present. Evidently our Synod was not ready 
for anything more than the appointment of a committee 
to confer with a similar committee of the Missouri 
Synod in relation to the subject. 

About this time I received a call to the English 
362 



fetorg of gpg %ift 



professorship of theology in the Seminary of the Mis- 
souri Synod at St. Louis. If I had been standing idle 
in the market place, waiting for the Master to assign 
me a place to work, I could have accepted the position 
without hesitation. But I had an abundance of work 
where I was, my labors were duly appreciated, I 
enjoyed the confidence of my brethren, and my place 
here, with the various avocations connected with it, 
seemed to me more difficult to supply than the com- 
paratively easy professorship at St. Louis. Therefore, 
after giving the subject the attention and consider- 
ation which its importance required and seeking coun- 
sel of others, I deemed it the path of duty to decline 
the call. Unhappily many of those who did not like 
Missourian ways interpreted this call as an unfriendly 
act towards our Synod, alleging that it was designed 
to injure us and our work, seeing that Missouri must 
have known that taking away one of our Professors 
would cripple us. Although the suspicion was not 
charitable, the fact was capable of such a reading, and 
it increased the dislike. What a leading man of the 
Missourians urged upon me as an argument for my 
acceptance was probably more powerful in effecting the 
choice, that the conditions were such in that Synod, 

that the admixture of something more of our spirit 

363 



fetorp ot 9®y %iU 



and manner would be a blessing to them and a benefit 
to us all. 

When Synod met again, in 1880, changes had 
taken place that suggested other thoughts than those 
of laying and executing plans for effective co-operation 
with Missouri. The predestination war had broken 
out in the Synodical Conference, and although we had 
not yet taken active part in it, its dark cloud already 
hung over our Synod. Our President, Prof. Lehmann, 
was sick and could not be present : indeed it was, 
humanly speaking, evident that he would never be with 
us again at our synodical meetings. He sent us a 
fraternal message, warning us, and entreating us to 
spend no further time upon the question of a United 
Seminary and kindred projects, but to devote our 
entire strength to the fostering of our institutions, 
although he had said nothing about the Calvinizing 
error into which Dr. Walther had fallen. But the 
Vice-President, Prof. Schuette, who took the chair 
and presented a report in the President's stead, referred 
to it and pointed out the necessity, on our part, of 
discussing the subject and declaring our position. My 
own convictions in regard to the desirability of joining 
forces with Missouri in educational work had been 



364 



&toi$ of ^v &itz 



greatly modified by observing the predestinarian inno- 
vations. 

As Prof. Lehmann could not further serve as Presi- 
dent, the choice at the election again fell on me. I 
thought that I had served as long in that capacity 
as could justly be asked of me, in view of the 
burden that I was already carrying in the service of 
the Synod, and declined to accept the office. Efforts 
to elect another failed, and the scene became so painful 
to me, that I was finally constrained to yield, and did 
so with the determination never again to offer such 
strenuous opposition to the wishes of my brethren 
and to such pleadings for my poor services. For 
twelve years more, until the presidency was made a 
salaried office demanding all the incumbent's time, the 
election regularly came to me, and I made no resist- 
ance, but continued to discharge its duties as if I 
wanted the position. 

When the work of Synod began, the old topic 
which had engaged so much of our attention and been 
the subject of so much debate, came up again, not- 
withstanding the changed conditions and the counsel 
of our dying former President. The committee, ap- 
pointed two years before, had prepared an elaborate 
report on the plan and management of our future 



365 



fetstg of ^v %itt 



Seminary work. Prof. Lehmann was one of that com- 
mittee, but he had not signed the document so that it 
was presented by Prof. Frank and myself as the 
other two members. I was no longer inclined to urge 
the matter as formerly, as Missouri's Calvinistic aber- 
rations had thoroughly chilled my zeal in the cause 
of the Synodical Conference and induced me to con- 
centrate my thought and labor and influence upon our 
own special field and the provisions made for its 
cultivation. But the subject was discussed at con- 
siderable length and much was said in maintenance 
of the plan proposed, notwithstanding the new ob- 
stacles cast in our way by the new departure of Mis- 
souri in the direction of Calvinism. The final deci- 
sion was that at this time we are not prepared to 
engage in the establishment of a joint Seminary with 
another Synod. If I remember rightly, this decision 
was unanimous; and all were thus enabled, with one 
accord, to push forward our own special work and 
provide properly for our own institutions and enter- 
prises, which was done with energy and success. 

A few months later our loved and trusted Prof. 
Lehmann was not, for God took him. In his death 
I think the Church sustained a greater loss than it 
knew, although that loss was deeply felt throughout 

S66 



&tot# of 9£g %itt 



the Ohio Synod. He was a man of sterling worth, 
the firmness of whose faith and soundness of whose 
judgment rendered him a tower of strength in the 
Ohio Synod. He was too busy a man from his youth 
up to have amassed great learning, and too cautiously 
slow to be progressively enterprising, but when good 
plans for the advancement of the cause of the Lutheran 
Church were proposed and he became convinced of 
their correctness and feasibility, there was no man 
among us more willing to labor and suffer, if need be, 
in their execution. This process of conviction was 
never rapid, but when the result was once reached it 
was permanent and unflinching. He was therefore not 
a leader in the march of progress, but rather a modera- 
tor and guide, pointing to paths of safety, and warn- 
ing against pitfalls. It was my lot often to differ 
with him, but was always glad to consult his judg- 
ment and weigh his reasons, knowing that his cautious 
eye would be likely to detect a flaw or difficulty that 
my eagerness to press onward might overlook. And 
never did our differences disturb our cordially fra- 
ternal relations. Usually I had the satisfaction of 
standing shoulder to shoulder with him in the battles 
as well as in the labors in which our dear Ohio Synod 

was engaged. When we buried him I could as readily 

367 



fetorg ot $®v %iit 



have taken my place among the chief mourners as to 
occupy that of a preacher at the funeral. He was a 
man of rugged health, and we did not think, neither 
he nor I, that I, who was always sickly and frail, 
would be called to officiate at his burial. Just a few 
weeks before his fatal illness we stood together at 
the east gate of the college, where we often met and 
talked over matters of mutual interest, when I re- 
marked that he, though the older man, from all indi- 
cations to human eyes, promised long to outlive me, 
who am always ailing, to which he assented, laying 
stress on the uncertainty of the evidence afforded by hu- 
man appearances. Before the year was past we saw how 
little reliance is to be placed on such indications, see- 
ing our times are in God's hands, and in the midst 
of life we are in death. Nearly twenty-five years have 
passed since then, and I, not freed from ailments yet, 
am still waiting for the coming of the Lord to take 
me home — waiting with an increased sense of lone- 
liness in my pilgrimage since my old friend and col- 
league in the Seminary is gone. 

Prof. Lehmann's death laid new responsibilities 
upon me. Provisionally, at least, I must take his place. 
So far as the Seminary was concerned, this was no 
hardship, except so far as the care for a supply of the 




o 

p 



> 

s 



u 






&tor» ot S£g %itt 



immediate wants of the classes was concerned. To 
compensate for this care, it left me at the head of the 
Seminary, and gave me the choice among the branches 
taught, so that I could henceforth devote myself to 
systematic theology, which was always my preference. 
But he had been President of the University, and by 
his departure that important position was also left 
vacant. It seemed all around to be regarded as a mat- 
ter of course that, during the interim at least, I must 
take the reins. I did so without a murmur. The neces- 
sity was evidently upon me. When the Board met I 
was duly elected to the office. I declined to accept it, 
believing that more was resting upon me already than 
a man is ordinarily expected to carry. The Board 
insisted, and adjourned. Manifestly the duties of the 
presidency must be performed, and I continued to per- 
form them as well as I could. Time passed on, and 
the Board was apparently satisfied with the perform- 
ance, as well without my acceptance of the call as it 
would have been if I had accepted it. It would ap- 
point nobody else, and I had to serve. Finally I thought 
it best, for the sake of order and appearance, to accept 
the name as well as the work, and thus for about ten 
years I added the presidency of Capital University to 
my other labors and honors. 
24 369 



btotv of S$g %iit 



Meantime the crisis came in the Synodical Con- 
ference. The predestination controversy was raging 
with ever increasing ardor, and all were pressed to 
take sides on the burning question. I was editor, and 
of course, had to speak out. Not that I was disposed 
rashly to put myself forward. It was long before I 
admitted what seemed to lie so plainly before the eyes 
of all who were willing to see. For a long while I 
thought that there must be some mistake about it. 
Antecedently it looked improbable to me that such a 
man as Dr. Walther, with all his wide learning and 
profound devotion to Lutheran doctrine, would at last 
be caught in the snare of Calvinism. The confusion 
apparent in the first presentation of Missourian pre- 
destinarianism nourished this thought, and for months 
I entertained the hope that the mystery would yet be 
cleared up and Missouri would yet retrieve its hon- 
ored Lutheran character. But I was disappointed. 
The Missourians defended their error, and it became 
ever more evident that their offensive statements were 
not slips of their tongues and pens, but were the ex- 
pression of false doctrines which had entered their 
souls. As soon as I was convinced that they incul- 
cated Calvinistic opinions, I did not hesitate to say so ; 
and I accordingly was one of the first among us to 

370 



fetotp of fl^g %itt 



incur their displeasure. The announcement was made 
that Missourians would not sit in conference with any 
who pronounced their doctrine Calvinistic, and that 
settled the matter for them as regards their future 
relations to opponents. 

In those days our fraternal intercourse with each 
other had already become so intimate that we united 
in the meetings of our local conference. Such a meet- 
ing of one of our conferences was to be held at Upper 
Sandusky, and the Missourians in that District, sup- 
posing it possible that I might attend, as the town was 
not far from Columbus, notified the pastor of the 
place, a member of our Synod, that if I came they 
could not take part, as I had committed the offence 
which by Missouri's decree made it unlawful for them 
to sit in conference with me. Our pastor informed me 
of this, and in reply to his question I informed him 
that I was coming. I came, and they came ; and as I 
was the guest of our pastor, in whose house the con- 
ference was to convene, I kept my seat when they 
came, having no thought that courtesy or charity 
would require me to withdraw, and I was quite sure 
that faith and conscience made no such requirement. 
In greeting them personally I tried to be as cordial as 
ever, and we sat and conversed for a while as usual. 

371 



fetorp tt $®$ JLitt 



But as the time for a formal opening arrived, the Mis- 
sourians showed signs of uneasiness. The conversa- 
tion flagged. They were perplexed. Finally one of 
the boldest among them spoke out what troubled them 
— there was a man present who had declared the doc- 
trine of Missouri to be Calvinistic, and they could not 
sit in Conference with him. As Conference had not 
yet formally organized, and I had no scruples of con- 
science in looking at the matter and talking it over 
with them, I saw no reason why I should retire, and 
was aware of nothing that would forbid them to retire, 
if they felt like it. So I kept my seat and made such 
remarks as the circumstances suggested. It was an 
amusing situation. The conference became lively, as 
the subject was interesting to us all; but it was a con- 
ference under conditions which, according to the con- 
tention of our opponents, rendered a conference im- 
possible. Of course, nothing tending to peace re- 
sulted ; but this became plain to me, that the Missouri- 
ans present had not yet digested the new doctrine and 
therefore came upon difficulties which they saw no 
way to surmount. As an example I mention that when 
the question was asked, whether an elect person is 
necessitated to accept the grace unto salvation when it 
is offered, the chief speaker of the Missourians an- 

372 



fetotg of 9$g Eife 



swered in the affirmative, while the President of his 
District looked at him and sadly shook his head, but 
said nothing. 

The calamitous affair was brought to a decision 
at an extra session of our Synod held at Wheeling in 
1 88 1. The war became so violent that a further co- 
operation with the Synodical Conference was out of 
the question. Some of our men had become exceed- 
ingly obnoxious to the Missourians, and I was one of 
them ; for I had not only opposed the Calvinistic inno- 
vation in the paper which I was editing, but had 
started a theological bi-monthly magazine with the 
express purpose of combating the false doctrine. 
Some of these objectionable men of ours had been 
chosen to represent the Ohio Synod at the coming 
meeting of the Synodical Conference, and it might 
seem as if the proper thing for our Synod to do would 
be to insist that these delegates should go, and en- 
deavor to maintain the purity of the faith in the gen- 
eral body to which we belonged. That appears right 
and reasonable, but it overlooks an essential feature 
in the existing conditions. Missouri had openly de- 
clared that such delegates would not be received, and 
Missouri had the power to enforce its declaration. 
Aside from all other advantages it had a large majority 

373 



fetotp nt Slpp Zitt 



of votes in the Conference, and could refuse a seat in 
the Convention to whomever it pleased. Our Synod 
would have exercised a constitutional right, if it had 
sent its delegates there, notwithstanding the Missou- 
rian attitude towards them ; but they would have been 
powerless even to get a hearing before the convention. 
Our Synod could have withdrawn the delegates 
chosen and selected others on whom the ban of Mis- 
souri did not lie, as there were many among us who 
had not yet pronounced the Missouri doctrine a species 
of Calvinism; but the Ohio Synod was never minded 
to have others dictate to us who should be chosen to 
represent us, and the delegates chosen, of whom I was 
one, were not minded, without an indignant protest, to 
be rejected by their own brethren at others' tyrannical 
bidding. Both on account of Missouri's doctrine and 
conduct it had become evident to our Synod, that our 
peaceful co-operation with the Synodical Conference 
was at an end. The Joint Synod therefore defined its 
position in regard to the doctrine of predestination, 
continuing to teach what it had always taught, and 
what the Lutheran Church had with practical unanim- 
ity been teaching for centuries, and declaring against 
the new departure of Missouri which, up to the time 
of its Calvinistic innovation, had also taught the same 

374 



fetotg ot 9®t JLitt 



doctrine which our old teachers had so clearly set 
forth and so vigorously and triumphantly defended 
against the Calvinists. It then formally withdrew 
from the Conference, and contended earnestly for the 
old faith, carrying on a strenuous controversy with its 
former allies. It has stood firmly in its well-fortified 
position until this day, and the war against Missourian 
Calvinism is not yet ended. 

A small number of our ministers, mostly such as 
had come into our Synod from the Missourians and 
who had the Missourian habit of following Dr. Wal- 
ther, declined to accept our position and withdrew 
from us to cast in their lot with the Synodical Con- 
ference. It is a remarkable fact that the men who 
had been called from the Missouri Synod to congrega- 
tions of our Synod during the time of our fraternal 
relations and consequently of pastoral interchanges, 
were all inclined to go with Missouri when the conflict 
came, concluding a priori that Dr. Walther must be 
right, though no conclusive proof could be furnished 
that he had not erred in fact on the subject in contro- 
versy. In my conversations in private with some of 
the most intelligent of these men the outcome usually 
was that they agreed with me as regards the substance 
of the doctrine, but assumed that I misunderstood the 

375 



fetotg Of $®v %itt 



Missourian contention, although none of them could 
render me the service of showing wherein I misunder- 
stood them or of explaining what the words which I 
quoted could mean other than they said and I under- 
stood them to say. 

The predestinarian controversy with its conse- 
quences exercised a potent influence in the subsequent 
development of our Synod. Those who had come to 
us from Missouri in times of peace returned thither 
when the war began, and a few Ohioans went with 
them. So far as I can recollect, not one of the former 
remained with us and took up arms against the erring 
body to which they had formerly owed allegiance. 
That was a loss which we could not prevent. Even 
the man who had been called from Missouri to a pro- 
fessorship in our college and who seemed loyally de- 
voted to our work and our interests, showed some 
restlessness when our attacks on Missouri became 
severe. Prof. Frank had even been unwisely advanced 
to a chair in our Seminary, though he had scarcely 
been acclimated among us. In one of the last inter- 
views I had with him I was convinced, that in all posi- 
tive statements he was in substantial harmony with 
us, but that in our negation of the Missourian con- 
tentions he did not join us so heartily. He was called 

376 



fetor? ct S$g Hilt 



to a pastorate in the Missouri Synod, and I think was 
glad to get away from a position that was not pleas- 
ant to him, and we had no reason to do anything that 
would make the change difficult. So in the new align- 
ment we even lost one of our Professors. But on the 
other side our gain was great. A goodly number of 
Missourians, among whom were several of the ablest 
men among them, lifted up their voices like a trumpet 
against the Calvinizing innovation, and failing to effect 
any change for the better in the Synodical Conference, 
which was dominated by the master mind that intro- 
duced the error, left their former association and 
joined forces with us. Our cause prospered and our 
strength increased. Proper provision was made to 
supply the new demands made upon us by our grow- 
ing field and widening opportunities. We were thor- 
oughly united in purpose and aim, and in devising 
plans and executing them there were no discordant 
elements to retard the work. Better provision was 
made for cultivating our constantly widening mission- 
ary field; a Practical Seminary for the more rapid 
preparation of men to occupy the field was established ; 
our School Teachers' Seminary was put into a more 
effective condition; our publication business was en- 
larged; due attention was given to institutions of 

377 



fe>totg ct S$# %iU 



mercy for the care of the needy and suffering ; in every 
way our Synod was inspired with new zeal and energy 
to do the Lord's work, now that we were confined to 
our own resources and felt the whole weight of the 
responsibility resting upon us to develop them accord- 
ing to the ability that God had given us. It was a 
privilege and a delight to be permitted to labor in the 
great cause of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 
the Ohio Synod now that she had reached a deeper 
consciousness of her precious heritage, and all were 
of one heart and one soul in this appreciation, and 
therefore had a mind to work with their might. The 
building up of the Church on the sure foundation 
which had been reached has been a pleasure, and God's 
blessing has given it success. 

Among those who came to us from Missouri was 
Prof. F. W. Stellhorn, whose great gifts have been 
unvariedly devoted to the work of the Synod as the- 
ological professor since 1881. Though he was not the 
immediate successor of our lamented Prof. Lehmann, 
who died in 1880, he more than filled the place left 
vacant among us, his manysidedness and his willing- 
ness to help in every field of endeavor rendering him 
an invaluable acquisition. To me it has been a con- 
stant pleasure, in the more than twenty years during 

378 



^totg of 9pg %itt 



which we labored side by side, to observe his readi- 
ness to take hold wherever help was needed, and the 
skill with which his helping hand would push the work 
along, without a murmur about the hardship or the 
least complaint of weariness. He is still at work, and 
I have become old and worn by sickness ; but it is still 
a joy to me that he is with us and that we can occa- 
sionally talk together of the things that God has done 
and is still doing for us, and of the things He desires 
us to do for the glory of His great name. With him 
at the head of a devoted and faithful Faculty, our 
Seminary was never more efficient. 

In 1890 I had been twenty-five years Professor 
in our Seminary, and I experienced a slight dis- 
appointment when March came, in which month I 
began my work in the year 1865. One of my col- 
leagues in the College had been kindly remembered 
by his friends of the Faculty and by the Board on his 
twenty-fifth anniversary, and I expected at least con- 
gratulations from my brethren when I had com- 
pleted a quarter of a century's labor in our College 
and Seminary. Commencement day came and passed, 
and still nothing was said or done. I therefore con- 
cluded that my surmise was incorrect, and that my 



379 



m®iv of Sipg Eife 



friends were not aware of the date of my anniversary. 
So the matter passed out of my mind. 

In the fall of that year our Joint Synod met in 
Columbus, and on Sunday morning an appointment 
was made for the afternoon which seemed to me to 
be worded somewhat peculiarly, but suggested noth- 
ing more to me than an afternoon service. As the 
work of Synod always wearied me, I concluded not to 
attend the services in the afternoon. After our noon- 
day meal my guests and I seated ourselves on the 
lawn, as the weather was warm, and engaged in 
conversation. While sitting there, enjoying the balmy 
air and the social converse, several good friends joined 
the company; and as I thought that they, like myself, 
had decided to absent themselves from church and 
spend the afternoon with me, I welcomed them and 
proceeded to arrange seats for their comfort. But 
they stopped my proceedings and informed me that 
they had made other arrangements, and desired me to 
accompany them in the carriage waiting at the gate. 
Putting on my coat, which I had laid off, I went with 
them and was driven to church, which was beautifully 
decorated, and crowded to overflowing. It seemed 
strange to* me that elaborate preparations should have 
been made for the celebration of some high festival 



380 



fetorg of 9£g %iU 



and I, who was President of the Synod, should know 
nothing about it; and it was not until I was with 
unaccustomed ceremony conducted to a conspicuous 
seat of honor, that it began to dawn on me that I 
was meant to play a prominent part in the celebration. 
Naturally it revived the thought of the twenty-fifth 
anniversary of my professorship, which with a little 
disappointment I had thought to be overlooked, but 
which in my brightest dreams I had never supposed 
capable of leading to pomp and ceremony like this. 
But it was all designed, as a few moments after my 
entrance was made quite plain, in recognition of my 
services in the Lord's work, and in praise of Him 
who called me and employed me and blessed me 
in these services and through them blessed our Synod. 
The surprise was perfect. Not even the few unusual 
movements I observed in the days preceding the fes- 
tival aroused the least suspicion that anything was 
going on that especially concerned me. Accordingly 
I was absolutely unprepared for any active part that 
I may have been expected to take in the program, 
and probably the words which I was able to sum- 
mon for the expression of my feelings did me poor 
service amid the honors which kind friends were 
laying on me in such profusion. But any words would 

381 



&tot# ot 9®V %itt 



have been inadequate, and perhaps my spontaneous 
utterances showed what was in my heart better than 
studied speech could have done. I was gratified that 
the address delivered gave all the glory to God, 
and contained no fulsome adulation of the servant 
through whose instrumentality He wrought. The 
principle maintained throughout was that honor should 
be given to whom honor is due, but to God all the 
glory. I was not indifferent to my brethren's kindly 
recognition of my services, nor did I pretend to be; 
on the contrary, I appreciated it highly, and was 
cheered by it, and thanked God and took courage. But 
I think I bore my honors meekly. It was one of 
the great events in my life, which led, so far as the 
effect became apparent to me in my consciousness, to 
no overweening conceit of myself or of my importance 
in the work of our Church. But it did impress on my 
heart the goodness of God in giving such a joy to 
poor sinners like me, who are honored when He 
employs them in His service at all, and whose sin so 
often blemishes the service, and the kindness of my 
fellow-laborers, who, notwithstanding the faults and 
shortcomings of their companion in labor and tribu- 
lation, are ready to cheer him by recognizing the sin- 
cerity of his efforts to promote the cause of the gospel 

382 



&tot» ot 9p» %iit 



and the blessing with which the Lord has crowned 
these efforts. 

The joy that was given me on that notable day- 
was not confined to the few hours devoted to the grand 
celebration. Besides the service of song and the edi- 
fying sermons, munificent gifts from Synod, Board, 
Faculty and students were presented, those from the 
students of College and Seminary not being least in 
my appreciation. Among these gifts there was a purse 
of money large enough to pay the expenses of a more 
extensive trip than I had ever been able to make, and 
a four months' vacation to afford the time for it. I 
was made a rich man that day, as I counted riches; 
for time and money was given me to travel to my 
heart's content. Accordingly, when the spring-time 
came my wife and I flitted away, westward-ho! as 
free as the birds of the air, visiting some friends in 
Chicago, to begin with, and taking a look at the 
sights, in that windy city ; then to Kansas City ; then 
to Denver; and then to Manitou and Pike's Peak and 
the Garden of the Gods. Our first long stay was at 
Manitou, where wonders of the world are piled to- 
gether in stupendous fashion, and where the longer we 
stayed the greater nature's attractions became. But 

we had not gone there to stay, so we broke away and 

383 



&tot» of 9®v %itt 



crossed the Rocky Mountains, and exulted in the amaz- 
ing peaks and canons in our rapid transit to Salt Lake 
and the Mormon City, seeing and hearing there all 
we wanted to see and hear, although spending only 
four days there of the week which I supposed it would 
require to satisfy our curiosity. Then the long trip 
through desert and over mountains to San Francisco, 
where a week was quite enough to satisfy us. Then 
along the Shasta route with its marvelous scenery 
and feats of engineering to Portland and Tacoma, 
spending more than a month at the latter city with 
daily trips about the Sound, to neighboring towns 
and cities. Then, as the month had been rolling rap- 
idly by, to Spokane and, over the Rockies again 
homeward, to St. Paul; then to Chicago, making but 
short stops along the route, to Columbus, where we 
are stopping still. My time was nearly up, and my 
purse was running low, and it was highly proper to 
think of going to work again. All was well at home, 
and I was refreshed by the long journey and rest from 
my usual occupation, so that I was in excellent con- 
dition to resume my duties with new energy and zeal, 
the cheer which had been given me in my public 
celebration being a constant additional incentive to 
work with all my strength. 

384 



£>totp of Q®t Eife 



The Synod in which my whole active life has 
been spent not only on this anniversary occasion dealt 
kindly with me, but has always treated me generously. 
It has been several times mentioned that my health, 
from the time when I entered the ministry, has never 
been good, though I was rarely unable to attend to my 
duties. Once, when it was no doubt apparent that 
for weeks and even months I was doing this with 
great difficulty, though I made no complaint and asked 
no relief, the Board of our Institutions passed the 
singular resolution, that I should absent myself from 
Columbus for three months, going where I pleased, but 
promising, whithersoever I might go, not to preach 
during that period. I understood the import of the 
banishment from home and the one restriction that was 
placed on my liberty of action. No doubt my friends 
feared that I would break down if complete rest were 
not secured, and saw that if I remained in the city, 
I could not escape all work, even if I suspended 
all my recitations, and that if I sought rest and recrea- 
tion among my ministerial brethren, they would be 
sure to ask me to preach at least on Sundays, and that 
I would be sure to do it, if there were strength enough 
left to ascend the pulpit. So I complied with the reso- 
lution, roamed about the land, mostly in Washington^ 



25 386 



&tot$ o£ 9£g WJU 



Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, taking life 
easy, and coming home weighing 156 pounds, the high- 
est that I had ever attained. When I reached my 70th 
birthday in 1898, a banquet was prepared in my honor 
with the same secrecy that had characterized my jubilee 
anniversary, a secrecy that was observed even to the 
extent of taking me in charge when I was on the way 
to my class-room. It was in all respects a delightful 
surprise, and the birthday celebration was surpassed 
only by the larger and mere richly decorated festival 
commemorating my quarter of a century's service as 
Professor, while in generous appreciation of my work 
and in my delight, especially now that I had grown 
old, in my brethren's expression of such appreciation, 
it was not surpassed. On many occasions before and 
since my friends, including the students, kindly remem- 
bered the recurrence of my birthday, and beautified it 
with music and flowers. 

Many as had been the celebrations in commemo- 
ration of events in my life, I had never had any 
share in originating them, and nearly always were 
they complete surprises. But when the fiftieth anni- 
versary of cur marriage was approaching in 1903, I 
did, for this once, as I had not done when the fiftieth 

anniversary of my ministry occurred in 1899, seriously 

386 



&t0£g of 9pg %iU 



think of preparing a wedding feast at our home and 
of inviting a number of guests to celebrate the golden 
wedding with us. I called a family council on the 
subject, and the decision was virtually unanimous 
against it. The ground of this was not a disinclina- 
tion to engage in such commemorations, but the con- 
viction that such a golden wedding could not be cele- 
brated without having some wedding presents brought, 
notwithstanding all that could be done to effect their 
omission, and that if we did succeed in eliminating 
them, the feeling w r ould exist in some of the guests 
that some presents would have been eminently proper, 
and that we, my wife and I, would be disappointed 
after all when our wishes were respected and the cus- 
tomary gifts were omitted. So I abandoned the pro- 
ject and confined the celebration to our own immediate 
family, as had been customary with us on less notable 
occasions. But even then my friends would not re- 
frain from manifesting their kindly interest in me, 
but gathered a goodly sum of gold and sent it to me 
with flowers, so that it was a golden wedding indeed, 
and all our anxiety and seeming success to keep away 
the gold was a pleasant failure. The kindness was 
deeply appreciated all the same, and plenty of use 

could be found for the beautiful gold coins. And one 

387 



fetorg ot $®v %itt 



instance more of my brethren's unvarying kindness to 
me must be mentioned, as the crowning manifestation 
of their generous concern for my welfare. When the 
affliction came that disabled me quite, leaving little 
hope that I could ever be of much or of any further 
service, the Synod resolved that my salary should con- 
tinue just as if I were performing the usual duties of 
my professorship, thus relieving me of all cares re- 
specting my own and my family's daily bread, which 
God has always bountifully supplied, and which He 
continues to supply just as bountifully now, when the 
ordinary conditions of the supply, through the labor 
connected with our calling, it is no longer in my power 
to fulfill. Thanks be to God, who is so good to me 
and has put it into the hearts of my brethren to be 
so good to me! 

Rejoicing in the gracious promises of God, and 
encouraged by the visible manifestations of His favor, 
by which I was so often sustained in my weakness, I 
endeavored to give myself wholly to the work of my 
calling. But while this implied diligence in all the 
duties of my professorship, it did not in my judgment, 
at least not in the circumstances in which my voca- 
tion placed me, exclude my participation in the other 
needs and enterprises of Synod looking to the same 



fetotp of 9£g %Mi 



end. My duties as President of Synod and as editor, 
and my co-operation with others on various synodical 
committees, were not regarded as conflicting with my 
fidelity as Professor, as the work of all was done to 
promote the same general cause. I could never think 
that those were in the right who, in the situation of 
our Synod, with its lack of men and money for need- 
ful undertakings, declined to accept any additional 
tasks, on the plea that their proper office gave them 
enough to do; and I did not feel good over it, when 
my entreaty for help in our emergency was met by 
the seemingly unconcerned remark, that it would make 
an addition to the work that was already enough. As 
I looked at our pressing needs, love should prompt all 
to lay hold and give a lift when the hands were lack- 
ing to push along an important undertaking, not that 
any one's proper duties should be neglected or slighted, 
but that the labor of love should be done in addition. 
When a man works eight or ten hours a day in his 
calling, he may no doubt rightfully claim that he is 
doing all that should be required of him; but when 
difficulties arise and embarrassments come and disaster 
or defeat threatens, he may work twelve or fifteen 
hours until the calamity be overpast. Why not, if 
in the depth of his soul he sees the need of it to 



fetstg ot S$» Effe 



promote a cause that is dear to him as the apple of 
his eye? Actuated by such thoughts, I found time 
to use voice and pen in large measure for the further- 
ance of the cause in which I was enlisted for life, 
preaching and making addresses with frequency, writ- 
ing articles, and even publishing books, without neg- 
lecting, so far as I knew, any duties of my proper 
office, or rendering my ministrations unsatisfactory to 
those who called me or those who heard me in the 
lecture room. Very likely I could have done better 
work as Professor, if I could have devoted my whole 
working time and strength to the one task of teaching, 
but the circumstances in which I was called to labor 
were not such as to make this practicable; and as I 
look back now upon the manifold employment of my 
energies, I have no regrets on that account ; and I am 
quite sure that God has crowned my life and work 
with His blessing, as He has crowned it with His 
goodness. 




m 



CHAPTER IX. 

AUTHOR. 

WRITING books was never part of the duties 
laid upon me by my vocation. I was, indeed, 
made a Doctor of Divinity, and felt encouraged by the 
honorary degree, especially as it was conferred with- 
out any solicitations known to me, by a college of high 
repute in whose interest I was not laboring ; but I had 
written books before this honor came to me and, as 
the title is now understood, it conferred no rights and 
no duties that I did not before possess. Authorship 
was merely one of my labors of love as much as any 
other work done without express obligation and with- 
out special compensation. 

It may imply a high estimate of one's own abili- 
ties to be induced to write and publish books. Cer- 
tainly a man who is convinced that he has nothing of 
any value to communicate will not be likely, unless 
some unworthy motive impels him, to undertake the 
task of writing and the worry of publishing them. 
But it does not follow that authors become such only 

by over-estimating their own acquirements and pow- 

391 



fetorp ttt 9$p %itt 



ers. Circumstances often lead modest men to author- 
ship, and the instances are not rare in which Christians 
have so underrated their abilities, that friends had a 
difficult task in hand when they undertook to constrain 
them to render service with the pen. In many in- 
stances the sin of omission, when one has the power 
to give the public what it needs, and from professed 
motives of modesty refuses to do it, is manifest. Per- 
haps this is as frequent as the sin of commission in 
the matter of writing books. I am sure that I did not 
rush into authorship blindly. It was always in pur- 
suance of the same purpose which actuated me in the 
rest of my work, and without interference with my 
proper calling. 

My first book had a peculiar history. It is the 
earliest of my published writings, but in publication 
it is not my first book at all. The first intimation that 
I had of its existence as a printed volume was when, 
at a meeting of our Joint Synod, a beautiful book in 
morocco binding and gilt edges, was handed me with 
congratulations. On its side it bore, in letters of gold, 
the inscription: "Presented to Rev. Prof. M. Loy, 
D. D., on the 25th anniversary of his editorship, 1890." 
Following the title page is a dedicatory address to 
me, which offers the requisite explanation in regard 

892 



fetorp of St£g %ite 



to the contents. It says: "By authority and in the 
name of the Publication Board of the Joint Synod of 
Ohio, the undersigned committee would hereby dedi- 
cate this volume to you as a jubilee gift. You have 
been favored by the Head of the Church with the 
grace of serving Him as a teacher of His truth faith- 
fully, for twenty-five years. The Lord's blessing has 
rested abundantly on your work as a professor at Cap- 
ital University and editor of the Lutheran Standard 
and other publications. Especially would the Publica- 
tion Board acknowledge the services you have ren- 
dered the Lutheran Church by your articles on the 
subject of Christian Prayer, found in the volumes of 
the Standard. These have been collected, to be pre- 
served and put into the hands of the Church anew as 
a precious treasure. It is hereby presented to you as 
a token of esteem and gratitude, and may the Lord 
reward your work." 

The collected articles, which form a neat octavo 
volume and made a beautiful and highly appreciated 
jubilee gift, in kindly recognition of twenty-five years 
of service as editor, were written long before, most 
of them, indeed, before my editorial career began. It 
was my custom, when I was pastor at Delaware, to 
spend the first half of the day in my study, attending 

393 



htm% ot S@2 %itt 



to out-door work in the afternoons, so far as this was 
under my control. This enabled me to do some read- 
ing and thinking and writing beyond the immediate 
requirements of my public ministrations. Sometimes 
I departed from the custom of using the lessons of the 
Church Year and preached a series of sermons on free 
texts, as I thought the wants of my congregation re- 
quired. Thus at one time I tried to make our people 
better acquainted with the Church by explaining the 
Augsburg Confession article by article, selecting the 
texts to suit the subject thus previously given to my 
hand. I remembered that it was not unusual in our 
Church to preach sermons on the Catechism, and I saw 
the need of such a practice. At one time, when I had 
chosen the Lord's Prayer for a series of sermons, the 
thought occurred to me that such an exposition as I 
designed to give might be beneficial to others, as well 
as to the members of my own congregation, and that 
if my sermons were carefully prepared they might 
later be printed. I accordingly wrote out the dis- 
courses in full, though I delivered them without the 
manuscript. When the series was completed I was so 
well satisfied with the work that I suggested my plan 
of publishing it to my first pastor, Dr. C. W. Schaeffer, 
who approved it and encouraged me to go on, although, 

394 



*&t$z% of 9pg %iti 



as I did not send him the manuscript, he could pass 
no judgment on the contents. But for various reasons 
I did not execute my plan, lack of money being per- 
haps as large a factor in the account as lack of am- 
bition to become an author at so early a stage of my 
life. But the discourses were preserved in my desk, 
and later, when I had become editor of our paper and 
I was pressed for time to write the articles needed, I 
found it very convenient to draw on some of my earlier 
work. Thus in the course of years the sermons became 
articles for the Standard, and my friends collected 
them and made this nice book and beautiful present of 
them. In publication it is one of my more recent 
works, in authorship it was my first. 

The earliest book that bears my name on the title 
page is the small Life of Luther published by Rev. J. 
A. Schulze, in 1869. But I was only the translator, 
the author, Rev. H. Fick, having written it in German. 
I liked the little volume and expected to do the Church 
good service by giving it to the readers of the Stand- 
ard in English. It was accordingly published in that 
paper, and afterwards issued in book form by Bro. 
Schulze, who held the copy-right. So far as I know it 
is still in the book market, and it is worthy of retain- 
ing its place. About the same period I also translated 

395 



&tot# of S$» %itt 



for him Dietrich's Catechism into English and edited 
a translation of Luther's House-Postil, both of which 
he published. He was as eager as myself to furnish 
good Lutheran literature for English readers, and his 
zeal and sacrifice in this direction are worthy of all 
commendation. 

I still remember with delight the summer vaca- 
tion of 1868, the spare time of which was spent in 
writing my little book on "The Doctrine of Justifica- 
tion." The theme was one of which I never grew 
weary. It was a pleasure to me to preach and to write 
on the subject, and frequently as I did this I never 
had the feeling that it was becoming threadbare, or 
that people were becoming weary of it. I do not be- 
lieve that they were. All my experience confirmed 
my conviction, that the people who regularly go to 
church like to hear the Gospel, and that attentive read- 
ers of church papers like to read articles showing 
the way of salvation. I therefore had no fears that 
justification by faith is too trite and hackneyed a sub- 
ject to interest readers of books, and that writing on 
it would be labor in vain. I was sure that further 
study of it and meditation on it would be profitable 
to those who were willing to read, and I was confident 
that some good could be done by writing my book, 

396 



fetotg of 9®v JLitt 



especially as I wanted the material for the Standard. 
So in the long vacation, when I was free from my 
usual class work, I formed my plan and proceeded 
to develop it, and the longer I wrote the more the sub- 
ject delighted me. It was a labor of love throughout, 
edifying to myself, as my heart brooded over the un- 
searchable riches of Christ and rejoiced in the pros- 
pect of communicating to others some of the blessed- 
ness which I felt in contemplating the wonders of 
divine grace. The book was published in due time, 
and I was not disappointed in my belief that it would 
find readers. The first edition was sold out in a few 
years, and so scarce did the volume become that I 
had some difficulty, when later I desired to refer to 
it, to secure a copy for myself. After being long out 
of print, a second edition was published by the Luth- 
eran Book Concern in 1882. It has since been con- 
tributing its modest share towards making the great 
truth of which it treats more clear and more dear to 
Christian people. 

Earlier in the writing, but a year later in the pub- 
lication, was my "Essay on the Ministerial Office: an 
Exposition of the Scriptural Doctrine as Taught in 
the Evangelical Lutheran Church/' It was the only 
book I ever published at my own risk, or in which I 

397 



fetstg at 9pg %iU 



had any pecuniary interest. My part in the other 
volumes bearing my name consisted merely in furn- 
ishing the manuscript, while the whole business of 
publishing was committed to other hands. "The 
Essay" bears the imprint of Schulze & Gassman, Co- 
lumbus, Ohio, 1870, but in this case they were only 
the printers for the author, who was pecuniarily as 
well as otherwise responsible for the publication. I 
never pursued authorship as a business ; it was always 
incidental to the work in which I w r as engaged and 
made tributary to that. I therefore never held a copy- 
right to any of my books, and never asked or desired 
any share in the profits that might accrue. My inter- 
est in the Book Concern which I helped to establish, 
was wholly in the service which it could render the 
Church, and if any profits should arise from the pub- 
lication of my books, which in every case had an 
object higher than that of making money, it seemed 
to me right and proper that these should be applied 
to the furtherance of the sacred and beneficial cause 
in which the Church is engaged, and which I as a 
servant of the Church was glad to promote. But in 
regard to the book on the Ministerial Office circum- 
stances induced me to pursue a different course. The 
matter of which it treats was largely in controversy 

396 



fetorg of ^g Eife 



in our Synod when the work was written, and that 
controversy was not yet entirely settled when the 
volume was published, although the bitterness of the 
struggle was past. I desired to be alone held respon- 
sible for the doctrine taught and for its dissemina- 
tion in our Synod. It was therefore published at my 
own charges, and without fear that the venture would 
plunge me into bankruptcy. The book had paid its 
own expenses when I gave the remaining copies over 
to the Book Concern, and I made no further inquiries 
about them. Years ago I was informed that the edi- 
tion was entirely sold out, and that it was desired to 
publish a new edition. I was willing that this should 
be done, but did not urge it, and a new edition has 
not been published. The volume, which is no longer 
in the market, was in substance a republication of a 
series of articles prepared while I was pastor at Del- 
aware, during the time when the question of the 
Church and Ministry was the burning one in our 
Synod. These articles were published in the Evangel- 
ical Review, which was then the only periodical in 
the Lutheran Church of this country devoted to theo- 
logical studies and discussions. I was then an occa- 
sional contributor to this theological quarterly, and the 
interest I felt in the controversy which was raging 

399 



fet®!# fcf 9gg %iit 



within our own bounds and in its outcome, rendered this 
a theme on which I was glad to make public my con- 
victions and my reasons for entertaining them. The 
subject was still one of general interest among us 
after my removal to Columbus, and the same zeal 
which inspired me to write the essay moved me later 
to publish it in book form. The preface closes with 
these words : "The author would not pretend indiffer- 
ence to the success of the volume here offered to the 
Christian public. The truth which it sets forth, what- 
ever may be the imperfections of the manner in which 
it is exhibited, he regards as of first importance in the 
development of a true Church life and of a proper 
activity in the Christian work; and he commits the 
book to the public with the earnest desire, that it may 
contribute something towards elucidating that truth 
and rendering it a power in human hearts." I have 
reason to believe that it was not without influence in 
our Church's victory over hierarchical tendencies, es- 
pecially in our own Synod. 

The large volume of Sermons on the Gospels, 
published in 1888, was in part at least, as in the case 
of my other books, a further utilization of materials 
which had already served the purpose for which they 
were written. An extract from the preface will tell 

400 



Motv of 9$y %iit 



the reader what I desire to say about the book. "For 
years the want of a collection of sermons in the Eng- 
lish language, similar to the Postils in extensive use 
for edification in our German churches, has been 
deeply felt, and the writer has been repeatedly re- 
quested to contribute something towards supplying 
that want. Believing that in a matter of this kind the 
judgment of others should not be disregarded, he has 
at last yielded to these solicitations and furnished the 
manuscript of the sermons forming this volume. For 
offering them to the public the Board of Publication 
of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Ohio is respon- 
sible. The author's reluctance and hesitancy in ren- 
dering this service was due in part to other causes than 
those of questionings and misgivings relative to his 
ability to meet the want, grave as such considerations 
are. He has had special reasons for tardy compliance. 
Leading a busy life and burdened with manifold offi- 
cial duties, he has during the last twenty-five years 
rarely been able to write out the sermons which he 
preached. The manuscript on hand, from which to 
make selections, was therefore not ample, and only a 
short time since was he so far relieved from other 
labors as to afford him an opportunity to supply what 
seemed to him necessary. Moreover, it is many years 
26 401 



fetotg of S$g %itt 



since he was pastor of a congregation and had that 
daily converse with the people which is so effective in 
suggesting and shaping sermons for the times. Under 
such circumstances he feared that it might even seem 
presumptuous in one, whose principal calling for a 
long period has not been that of a pastor, to undertake 
such a task. But there is something to be said by way 
of apology. Prior to his call to educational work the 
writer was for sixteen years engaged in the active 
duties of the ministry, and the Lord blessed his labor. 
To this he may add, that although for nearly a quarter 
of a century his work has been in another sphere than 
that of the pastorate, he has never ceased to be a 
preacher of the everlasting gospel. During not a few 
of those years there was scarcely a Sunday on which 
he did not occupy the pulpit, while frequently on other 
days he had occasion to preach Christ to the people. 
Perhaps these considerations will serve to shield him 
from the charge of presuming too much when, in his 
earnest desire to serve the Master to the full extent 
of his ability, he consents to the publication of these 
sermons/' I was not mistaken in my judgment as to 
the need of such a work, and was never accused of 
presumptuousness in my consenting to assist in sup- 



402 



fetotp ot 9®V %itt 



plying it. The book has rendered good service and 
is rendering it still. 

In two other instances I was not in so favorable 
a condition to comply with the wishes of our Publica- 
tion Board, though I was in complete agreement with 
my brethren in regard to the Church's need of the 
books which they desired me to write. I could not 
command the necessary time for the work, strong as 
my inclinations were to undertake it. One of these 
books has since been prepared by other parties, and 
the want has accordingly been supplied; the other 
is still needed, but it is probably now too late for me 
to think of doing the work, much as I still wish it 
were done. 

If I remember rightly the volume on the "Chris- 
tian Church," published in 1896, is the only one of 
my books which was not written at the solicitation of 
others, or did not result from work done independently 
of the publication. This book was written with a 
view of issuing it to the public as a complete volume, 
the contents of which had not been before published 
in a different form. The fact of writing it while I 
was urged to write on other subjects, the importance 
of which I fully recognized, indicates how profoundly 
I felt the need of treating the subject chosen. The 

403 



hUz$ of $®$ %Ui 



preface frankly states the attitude of my mind. 
"Simply because the writer thought that he could ren- 
der some service to the Church which he loves did he 
undertake to write and does he now presume to publish 
this book. The subject is one which he believes that 
it would be profitable for all Christian people to under- 
stand, and he has therefore, in setting it forth, endeav- 
ored to meet the wants not only of the ministry, but 
of all who are concerned about the work and welfare 
of the Holy Christian Church, the Communion of 
Saints. Whether he thought rightly, and whether his 
endeavors have been successful, must needs be sub- 
mitted to the judgment of the reader." My con- 
victions relative to the importance of the subject pre- 
sented and the need of understanding it, both for 
theological and practical purposes, have remained the 
same, and I am therefore still glad that the book was 
written and published, and that it is still offered by 
our Book Concern to all who desire to buy it and read 
it. Much evil results from the erroneous views pre- 
valent on the subject, many of which are essentially 
Romish, though entertained and propagated by 
churches and parties that make a special boast of their 
stern Protestantism and utter freedom from all taint 

of popery. So great is the ignorance, or so superficial 

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&tm# of 9£g %iti 



the opinions, in vogue on the subject among some 
Christians that the fundamental error of Rome in re- 
gard to the Church is accepted as the rule by which 
all churches are judged, notwithstanding their appar- 
ently sincere condemnation of Romanism as an Anti- 
Christian usurpation. Observation of current thought 
and methods has convinced the writer that other prin- 
ciples than those which won the victories of early 
Christianity and of original Protestantism have crept 
into the Church, and have darkened counsel in regard 
to her nature and design and power and duty. They 
have even become influential enough to disqualify 
many a Christian for forming a sound judgment re- 
specting her doctrine and her practice, and to render 
many a teacher an unsafe guide. Error is always 
perilous, and those who tell us to give earnest heed to 
the work and never mind the contentions about creed, 
are not the men whose advice commends them to the 
confidence of thoughtful children of God, or mani- 
fests any qualification for leadership in the war which 
the kingdom of Christ is waging against the kingdom 
of darkness, with all its lying wonders and deceiv- 
ableness of unrighteousness." It was a sincere labor 
of love that I engaged in when I wrote my book on 
the Church, and all my reward was in the service 

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&totg of 9£g %ltt 



which I designed to render and think I did render 
my brethren in Christ. 

It is needless, in this review of my work as author, 
to mention the numerous pamphlets bearing my name. 
Some of them are carefully prepared essays of con- 
siderable length, but none of them, so far as I remem- 
ber, was originally written for separate publication. 
Mostly they are articles from periodicals which friends 
thought it desirable to have reprinted for wider cir- 
culation. My sh#re in such publication usually con- 
sisted only in giving my consent that it should be 
done. Ever since I became a member of the Synod 
I have also been a member of various committees 
appointed to compile and edit the books needed for 
the services of the Church, and thus had part in the 
preparation of the Hymn Books, Liturgies and Cate- 
chisms in use among us, both in German and Eng- 
lish. While my work in this respect added little to 
my authorship, it did, like much of my literary labor 
in preparing reports for Synod, and meeting similar 
demands upon my time, contribute not a little towards 
making mine the busy life that it was. With voice 
and pen, with heart and hand, I strove to be diligent 
in the good Master's business, who saved me with 
so great a salvation and deigned to use me now to 

spread His praise abroad. 

406 



CHAPTER X. 

EMERITUS. 

TOWARDS the end of May, 1902, I returned from 
my class work in an agony of pain, that made 
it a marvel how I could reach my home without 
assistance. A physician was called, to whom I de- 
scribed as well as I could the pangs in my breast, 
extending up into the throat and out into the left 
shoulder. He feared it was angina pectoris, and pre- 
scribed for this somewhat rare disease, but called 
another physician in consultation, and afterwards a 
third, the decision being in each case the same. Day 
after day and night after night, for months, the pangs 
continued, sometimes as many as ten paroxysms in a 
day, and threatening death, but each passing away 
and an interval of comparative ease intervening, save 
for anxiety about the next. This time of suffering 
was a time of nearness to God, who is a very present 
help in trouble. I knew, and know, that my Re- 
deemer lives, and though nature shrinks from dying, 
I had nothing to fear and feared nothing in regard 

to the future world, but rather thought with glad- 

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ness of the Father's house with its many mansions, 
whither my Savior had gone to prepare a place also 
for me. It was only the pain that was dreadful, and 
that would be no more when this earthly life, bearing 
the consequences of sin and the seeds of death, should 
cease. I saw the Lord's goodness, which during my 
whole life was shown me beyond all I could think, 
even in my distressed condition, weaning me from all 
things earthy and presenting the wonderful salvation 
of sinners through the blood of the Lamb as blissful 
reality beyond all compare. It was a great blessing 
that my mind remained unclouded, and that I could 
read and meditate, in the intervals of freedom from 
heart-pangs, as well as my eyes and heart were ever 
capable of doing; and when seasons of despondency 
came, as they often did, they never shook my faith 
in the truth revealed in the gospel or my own assur- 
ance of salvation through the boundless grace of God 
in Christ. As time wore on the pangs became less 
frequent, and now I have had none of those dreadful 
paroxysms for more than a year, though still required 
to avoid all physicial exertion and mental excite- 
ment and take my medicines regularly, lest the dis- 
ease break out anew. So I am now enjoying com- 
parative ease and comfort. Synod having made me 

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Professor emeritus with all the rights and emoluments 
of my office as before my disablement, with the large 
liberty of doing what and as I think best. 

Of course I try to do something still, however 
little it may now be, in the cause to which my life 
has been devoted. Age is having its effect upon me 
as well as disease, but my senses are all sound, and 
my intellect is still active, so that I at least try to con- 
tribute the mite my condition permits to the work of 
the Church I love. I am aware that this contribution 
is not of large importance, but I have learned that 
every little is a help, and that many littles may aggre- 
gate much. Accordingly, while heeding the medical ad- 
monition to refrain from any great exertion, physical or 
mental, I use my pen and voice with prudent care, but 
still so that occasionally an article for one or the other 
of our periodicals, and in some instances a talk to the 
students, has resulted. It could not be reasonable to put 
such a strict construction on the admonition of my 
physician as to make it equivalent to a prohibition 
of all action in body or mind. I cannot sleep all the 
time, nor can I sit or lie Still all the time. I have 
written a goodly number of papers both in English 
and in German during this period of enforced inac- 
tivity as professor emeritus, and I flatter myself that 

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&tot$ ot 9®V %itt 



some good has been done by their publication, without 
any manifest harm to myself. In using my voice I 
have been less successful. That organ has suffered 
severely, and its weakness renders speaking with suf- 
ficient force to be distinctly heard in public too much 
of a strain upon me to be safe. I have therefore 
made no attempt to preach, and the lectures which I 
had planned last autumn were abandoned after the 
six or eight which completed the first series. My 
experience was such that I have not since had the 
courage to undertake the second course, which had 
been projected. For needful physical exercise in the 
open air my situation affords me ample opportunity. 
When I became able to go out a block or two from 
my house, I took little walks around the square, and 
my wife accompanied me when I ventured farther 
away. Once or twice I consented to take rides on 
the motor lines. But all these plans proved disappoint- 
ments, no doubt largely owing to the timidity which 
disease and doctors had inspired. My rheumatic ail- 
ment subjected me to pains in riding and my strength 
failed in walking. I was therefore uncomfortable 
when I ventured a little distance from home. When 
the spring came the remedy was found. My old love 

of gardening returned with renewed energy, and my 

410 



&totg of 90# %itt 



dear home furnished the opportunity to gratify it. My 
garden is my delight. All the physical exercise of 
which I am capable can be taken there with pleasure, 
and the conditions are such that I can move about 
or rest at will, working or stopping work as judgment 
dictates. My decision therefore is to stay at home, 
where the goodness of God has supplied me with all 
that is requisite, without subjecting me to unnecessary 
pains and discomforts in the quest of health. I am 
thus using the discretionary power which was given 
me in regard to work, and have no plans for the 
future, except the general one of continuing to serve 
God as I shall be able in the little time yet allotted 
me. 

In these days of ample leisure it is natural that my 
thoughts should often revert to scenes and experiences 
of the past, and this will, at least in part, account 
for writing this story of my life in which I am here 
engaged, and which I probably never could have been 
induced to undertake while health and strength lasted 
for more important work. I look back now, as a sin- 
ner saved by grace, over a busy life which brought 
me into frequent conflicts not only with men whose 
whole view of God and man was fundamentally dif- 
ferent from mine, and who were enemies of the cross 

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of Christ, through which alone human souls could 
or can be rescued from the impending doom, but also 
with men who like myself professed to be Christians, 
but between whom and me there were confessional 
differences. At least some of these were not of a 
character that would necessitate the belief that they 
would prevent our ever meeting together jin our 
Father's house to praise eternally that grace which has, 
in the Lamb of God, prepared equal salvation for all 
poor sinners. In the broader and intenser light that 
has come to me through many years of study and 
experience, all solemnized now by the near prospect 
of death and after death the judgment, would not my 
position and course be different, if I had my life to 
live over again ? My answer must be an emphatic No ! 
I think I would and could do some things better, but 
that I loved the Ev. Lutheran Church and spent my 
strength in her service — for this I have no regrets. 
The same faith that sustained me and cheered me in 
the labors and battles and sufferings of a long life, 
animates me still as the end approaches and the even- 
ing time brings the promised light. 

I was always sensitive about the oft-repeated 
charge, that the Lutheran faith, when it exerted its 
native power in the soul and produced its proper results 



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in the thinking and practice of men, rendered them 
self-conceited and bigoted, unloving and exclusive. 
Such reproaches grieved me, not because I recog- 
nized some bitter truth in the charge, but because 
they not only betrayed an ignorance that disqualified 
the accuser for any judgment in the matter, but in- 
volved a wanton assault upon the personal character 
of the accused. It was painful to me, when I was 
conscious of desiring to maintain the truth for the 
glory of our Lord and for the good of the souls 
that He bought with a price, to have my motives 
impeached and my honest purpose of love represented 
as the outgrowth of selfishness and malice. Such 
slanderous imputations it is difficult to bear without 
resentment, and all the more so when the wanton 
accusers cannot justly be regarded as willful enemies 
of Christ and His Church, but may, notwithstanding 
the grievous sin and gross wrong which they commit 
yet be Christians who, on account of their ignorance 
and the wantonness of their flesh, are carried to lengths 
of hostility towards others which their better self, if 
it had a chance, would undoubtedly condemn. They 
are wrongs which must be borne, and the grace of God 
is sufficient also for such endurance; but these people 

are hard to handle, because under the blinding power 

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of the flesh they impute to us the sin which obscures 
their own vision. When liberalists and indifferentists 
and unionists insist that our whole Lutheran conten- 
tion is the outcome of an ungodly overestimation of 
our own intellectual powers, and of a carnal hatred 
of others which leaves no room for Christian charity 
towards them, a wall of separation of another sort is 
erected between us and them, which, superadded to 
their false doctrine forming the original trouble, 
makes it peculiarly difficult to get along with them. 
I tried to have all patience with the erring, but when 
opponents pronounced me a bad man because I insisted 
on the truth which our Church confesses, and declared 
that there could be no Christian love in my heart as 
long as I persisted in such Lutheran faith and prac- 
tice, it required more than ordinary care not to say 
some unduly severe things in applying the law to 
such presumptuous judging of our hearts. 

Many of the controversies in which it was my lot 
to engage, notably those with the General Synod and 
the General Council, centered in differences in regard 
to the doctrine of the Church and the right appre- 
ciation of the Church of the Reformation. In these 
cases we all bore the Lutheran name, but the differ- 
ence was not the less great on that account. It is still 

414 



fetorp of 9£g JLitt 



a wonder to me, how our contention could be thought 
so trivial by intelligent men and be treated by some 
of them as a mere manifestation of bad temper and 
an outbreak of personal piques. I entertain the same 
convictions to-day as I did then, and regret that the 
General Synod and General Council has not yet learned 
to appreciate our Ohio position, but continue in a 
course that makes the continuance of the warfare 
against them a work of faith that we are not at liberty 
to relinquish. There were some points which I con- 
sidered essential not only for the prosperity, but even 
for the very existence of the Lutheran Church, and 
my regret is not that I contended earnestly for them 
as I do still, but that our opponents, whether ignor- 
antly or otherwise, mystified and obscured them by 
the introduction of irrelevant topics, and thus pre- 
vented the proper appreciation of the questions at 
issue. What made me a Christian made me a Lu- 
theran, and what made me a Lutheran made me a 
determined foe of all liberalism and unionism that, 
whether consciously and intentionally or not, operates 
to the undermining of the Lutheran Church, to the 
shameful disparagement of the great Reformation, and 
ultimately to the attempted overthrow of the Chris- 



415 



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tian Church against which the gates of Hell shall 
not prevail. 

The Church was and is an article of my faith, 
and this placed me in unavoidable opposition to all 
human devices and schemes for building up churches 
on human foundations and by human means, and to 
substituting human opinions for the Word of God, 
thus supplanting by human merit the one foundation 
which God has laid and which seems so inadequate 
in the eyes of human wisdom. Men who had a repu- 
tation for ability and piety would persist in trying to 
shame me and silence me by referring to the acknowl- 
edged fact, that there are Christians in other churches 
as well as in the Lutheran, and that it does not beseem 
Lutherans of proper Christian humility and modesty 
to claim so much for their church to the disparage- 
ment of others, especially as such claim implies that 
these others are not Christian churches at all, and 
that their members cannot be recognized as Christians. 
The argument is specious and well calculated to drive 
modest Lutherans from the field, as it certainly would 
if they had no faith. I am glad that the Lord who 
redeemed me and called me by the gospel to the 
glorious inheritance of God's children gave me this 

grace also, that I would not be frightened and could 

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fetot? ot 8$» JLite 



bear some contumely in a cause so precious. The 
thought was not entertained for a moment that I was 
the equal of my opponents in learning or holiness, 
much less their superior. God had done much for me, 
and I was not at all minded, in an ungrateful mock- 
humility, to deny or disparage His gifts, as though 
they became worthless by their bestowal upon an un- 
worthy subject. But I had the grace to see that this 
was not the question in dispute. If the question had 
been whether the members of other churches or of 
other synods in our church were bigger or better men 
than we of the Ohio Synod, I am sure that I would 
not have entered the arena for a fight about it. 
We recognized mental and moral and spiritual power 
wherever we saw it, as we recognized physical bulk 
and weight, but the one had no more to do with the 
question in controversy than the other. Intellectual 
superiority may have some influence in estimating the 
value of theories, but cannot determine the facts which 
lie in view of all men; and the little weight which 
may attach to expert authority in matters of human 
thought has no bearing on questions of divine reve- 
lation, which are decided only by divine authority. 
That "Christ died to save sinners" may be disputed 

by men of marvelous mental power, and has been 
27 417 



fetorg ot St£g %itz 



>me whose learning and logic are acknowl- 
the world: is it expected of me, who 
believe it and rest all my hopes in life and death and 
immortality upon it, that I shall be humble enough, 
recognizing the superior ability of these men, in def- 
erence to them to renounce my happy faith and die 
like a dog? The matter is too plain to reason about, 
notwithstanding that Christian men of learning vir- 
tually accept the absurd fancy and confront us Lu- 
therans with arguments based upon it. I not only 
did not possess the humility to renounce the truth of 
the gospel in deference to the superior ability of such 
antagonists, but did have the faith to despise such 
godless travesties of humility, and to warn able men 
who professed to be Christians against the wiles of 
the devil, who meant them no good when he led 
them into such wretched sophistry. No doubt my ex- 
pressions sometimes seemed harsh; how could it be 
otherwise ? The confession of the truth is of necessity 
the condemnation of the opposite falsehood, and in 
proportion as that truth is appreciated as divine and 
loved as of heavenly import, will the opposing false- 
hood be hated as a Satanic lie that imports a male- 
diction. I never contended that other denominations 
are not churches, or that members of other churches 

418 



fbtotv ot 9®y> JLitt 



are not Christians. That was never the subject in con- 
troversy when the fight was against unionism in our 
i Synod, or when the war was waged against the Gen- 
eral Synod and the General Council, or when the con- 
flict was against other denominations generally. My 
contention was that the truth of the gospel confessed 
by the Ev. Lutheran Church is the very truth of God, 
which the faith wrought by the Holy Spirit through 
the means of grace embraces for its comfort and 
peace in view of sin and death, and that Lutheran 
believers are bound, in fidelity to the Lord and His 
gospel, to maintain that truth on divine authority, to 
build their congregations on that basis, and to con- 
tend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. 
This constituted my offence. 

And this is my contention still. The Holy Chris- 
tian Church is the Communion of Saints, the one con- 
gregation of believers in Christ, who is alone the Sa- 
viour of the world. This article of the Apostles' Creed 
is part of my faith. I believe in the Holy Christian 
Church as I believe in the Holy Ghost. In this some 
of those with whom I came into conflict were evidently 
not agreed with me. When they charged me and the 
Ohio Synod with denying that there is any other but 

the Lutheran Church, they built their charges on their 

419 



fet0tg of S$g %iti 



own errors, and made their inferences from their own 

fancies. We never said such things as they imputed 

to us. They did not venture to allege that we said 

them, but only inferred that we must have meant them, 

though they knew quite well that we were always 

careful to say what we meant as plainly as possible. 

We did say that the Lutheran is the Church of the : 

pure Word and Sacrament, and that every article of! 

her Confession is the truth which God's Word teaches 

on that subject, so that the rejection of such article 

of our Lutheran faith is a rejection of the truth written 

in the Bible for our learning. If some professing 

Christians will not join us in this Confession, we 

deplore that fact, but the truth remains the same, and 

our faith clings to it all the same. If some of them 

think that we have erred and that they have found a 

better doctrine and established it on better grounds, 

and therefore deem it necessary to put forth a different 

confession and build up congregations on another basis, 

we deplore this still more, as it makes divisions among 

us, which God's Word has forbidden, and lays on us 

the obligation to "mark them which cause divisions 

and offences, contrary to the doctrine which ye have 

learned, and avoid them." Rom. 16, 17. But the 

truth and our faith still remain the same; no thought- 

420 



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ful man, least of all a thoughtful believer, would 
presume that the misconduct of such professing Chris- 
tians could change these verities or the believing 
heart's hold on them. Such people have used a liberty 
which the Creator has allowed them, and for the 
use of which He holds them responsible, and we have 
nothing further to do with the matter. They have 
established a Church in separation from ours, be- 
cause they could not accept our confession of faith 
and abide in our fellowship. Theirs is a church also, 
but not the Lutheran. It is a different Church, and 
the difference is that they have renounced some por- 
tions of the truth witnessed in our Confession, and 
declared their adherence to some human errors which 
they have set forth as divine truth. They form a 
Church, but an erring Church, as distinguished from 
the Lutheran Church with its pure Confession, and 
thus the Church of the pure Word and Sacrament. 
Not the least intimation is ever given among us that 
on that account we deny that they are Christians. 
That is an entirely different matter. God knoweth 
them that are His, and He alone knows them. Only 
He can prove the heart and the reins and knoweth 
! what is in man. It is arrogance to presume to judge 
the heart. Never have we presumed to say that the 

421 



£>totp ot Q$y %Ht 



Lutheran is the only visible Christian Church and 
that all true Christians are found within her visible 
organization. She is the one visible Church of the 
pure evangelical confession, and we who hold her 
faith hold also that others err so far as they depart 
from the truth which she confesses and are thus 
erring churches. 

Of course the Lutheran is not the one holy Chris- 
tian Church in which we in our Creed profess to 
believe. No visible organization is that. The one 
Church of Christ is the aggregate of all believers — 
not of all churches and sects, but of all believers. 
Her test of membership is faith, not a certain form 
of government, not the cultus, not the discipline, 
not even the confession, but only the faith, which 
embraces Christ and with Him, forgiveness of sins, life, 
and salvation. To apply that test is God's prerogative, 
not ours. Whether he calls himself a Lutheran or 
a Wesleyan or a Calvinist or a Romanist, whoever is 
a believer is a member, and only whoever is a be- 
liever. Calling himself a Lutheran will not secure the 
eternal inheritance of the saints, if one is not a be- 
liever; calling himself a member of the Roman Cath- 
olic Church will not deprive him of that inheritance, 

if he is a believer. Believers are God's saints, and 

422 



fetotp of S£p JLiit 



they form the communion of saints, the one Church, 
of Christ. That there is such a Church we believe, 
and we are sure of it only because we believe the 
Word with its precious promises regarding the effi- 
cacy of God's means to gather and maintain such 
a congregation of believers. How then could there 
be any justice, to say nothing of charity, in charging 
us with the sin of denying that members of other de- 
nominations are Christians, or of pronouncing damna- 
tion on them because they will not profess to be Lu- 
therans? It is a flagrant wrong that is done us by 
such damning charges, and it is surely none the less 
flagrant when those who deal out such anathemas 
claim to be special apostles of love and vital piety. 
We have suffered much under such outrageous rail- 
ings, but it has not shaken our faith in the existence 
of one holy Christian Church, to which all believeis 
belong, whatever may otherwise be their short- 
comings, knowing that sinners are justified by faith, 
not by the deeds of the law. Sustained by faith we 
have gone on with our labor of love, which was de- 
signed for the good of those who cursed us as well 
as for all others who would hear us, that we might help 
a little towards rescuing people from the abominable 
tyranny of popery with its delusions about the king- 

423 



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dom of God, which is not of this world, as if it 
were an external organization with visible tests of 
membership and external titles to the inheritance of 
saints, substituting the human figment of righteous- 
ness by works for the righteousness of God by faith. 
And of course I went on with my work as a Lutheran 
believer, working with my might in the interest of the 
Lutheran Church, notwithstanding that many, some 
professed friends and some open foes, persisted in rep- 
resenting this as a manifestation of lovelessness and 
bigotry, and of hostility to Christianity whenever and 
wherever it failed to bear the Lutheran name. 

The one Church of Christ existed before Luther's 
day and the work of mercy which was effected through 
his instrumentality. It did not seem so, when we read 
of the horrible conditions prevailing in the papacy, 
and under its despotic sway it does not seem so now. 
But the gates of hell had not prevailed against the 
Church of Christ. It existed notwithstanding all the 
abominations of the Antichrist. There were Chris- 
tian people yet under his despotic sway. And when 
Luther presented the gospel in its purity and brought 
its comfort to the hearts of Christ's suffering people, 
his assault upon the papal abominations were vigorous 

in proportion to the love which he had to the truth 

424 



^torg of S$g %iU 



and to the people whom it was designated to set free. 
Did he hate the Christian believers, who then as now 
and always constituted the one Church of the living 
God, the ground and pillar of the truth when he made 
his terrible assaults upon the papacy? When those 
who accepted the gospel gathered around the glorious 
Augsburg Confession and became known as the Evan- 
gelical Church in contra-distinction to the Church of 
Rome, which refused to accept the truth and declined 
to have the Lord reign over it by His Word, preferring 
the pope and his decretals, the situation was plain to 
all who are willing to see. It could not be the Lu- 
theran Church and the Papal Church, with equal 
claims and mutual recognition as sister churches, the 
two together forming co-ordinate and co-equal 
branches recognized by our Lord as constituting His 
one Holy Church. The Pope whom Lutherans re- 
jected could not have equal authority with the Eternal 
Son, our Saviour, whose exclusive headship they ac- 
cepted and joyfully confessed. And when some who 
cut loose from popery followed sundry fanatical vaga- 
ries of their own and, guided by the wisdom of this 
world, were not willing to confess some important 
articles of the Lutheran faith as declared at Augs- 
burg, but drew up a confession and organized a 

425 



mm ot $$v %itt 



Church of their own, the Lutheran Church could not 
stultify itself and nullify its divinely authenticated 
claims by recognizing the three Churches, the Lu- 
theran and the Roman and the Reformed, as three 
divisions existing by equal divine authority, and to- 
gether constituting the one kingdom of Christ. What 
the Lutheran Church could do, she did. She held fast 
to the ancient creed of Christendom, still believing in 
one Christian Church, which is the congregation of 
all believers, wherever they may be found, but abiding 
in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, contending 
earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, 
and avoiding those who cause divisions and offenses, 
contrary to the doctrine which she had learned from 
the Scriptures. And that is what she does now. If 
any one falsely concludes that because she recognizes 
a visible Church wherever the divinely appointed means 
of divine grace are employed, and this because she 
believes the promise of God that the means shall effect 
that whereunto they are sent, though she cannot 
unerringly know in which individuals the designed 
effect has been produced, she must logically abandon 
her love of the truth revealed in the gospel for man's 
salvation, and adopt some other test of membership 

and fellowship than this truth which she confessed, 

426 



fetotp of Q$v %iii 



devising some other basis than that of her good con- 
fession, he draws a wild conclusion, which the Lu- 
theran Church not only cannot accept, but which in 
her eyes is as wicked as it is wild. The Roman 
Catholic organization, notwithstanding all its danger- 
ous errors and usurpations, is still a Church, and has 
some Christians in it ; but to ask of us that we should 
on that account hold fellowship with it, notwithstand- 
ing its Anti-Christian doctrines and practices, and 
thus give our sanction to its abominations and make 
ourselves partakers of its sins, is to ask that we 
should withhold from our gracious Lord the glory 
which belongs to Him and imperil our own souls, and 
the souls of millions whom error can only harm, but 
whom the truth may save. 

For my life of service in the Lutheran Church, 
in steadfast devotion to her good confession, I have 
therefore no apology to make. Nor have T any re- 
grets that I was unwilling to make concessions to 
opponents of our Lutheran position, though this was 
,often imputed to mere carnal stubbornness. Oppo- 
nents who decry it as narrowness of heart and shallow- 
ness of brain to make so much of the particular Lu- 
theran Church, with its small minority in the mass 
of professing Christians, and apparently so little of 

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the Universal Church of the Redeemer, embracing all 

Christendom, do not know the Lutheran Church nor 

the men who devote themselves so heartily to its work 

and welfare. If they did, being honest, they would 

see the utter fallacy and uncharitableness of the 

thoughts which underlie their censures. 

Our interest is first and foremost in Christ's 

kingdom of truth and salvation, which is not of this 

world. Let no one think that we are indifferent to 

what is done to advance this kingdom and promote 

its gracious ends by Christians who bear some other 

than the Lutheran name. If Christ is honored and 

souls are saved, our end is attained, and we rejoice in 

the blessed achievement, as we know that the angels 

in heaven rejoice. When a perishing soul is snatched 

from the jaws of everlasting death, how could we, 

who know what such a deliverance means, otherwise 

than rejoice, though the mighty work of divine grace 

were done in the Romish or Reformed Church, or even 

the Salvation Army? But I, who am gladdened by 

the Lord's work of mercy, am not on that account a 

Romanist or a Methodist or a Salvation Armyist. On 

the contrary, my very love for the kingdom of Christ 

and devotion to its aims and purposes makes me an 

ardent Lutheran. For all the real good that is done 

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I for the rescue of the souls of men from the eternal 
doom, is done by the grace of our Lord through the 
means of His appointment; and all that we can hope 
to accomplish in His service must be through loyalty 
to His Word and fidelity to His means, as against 
human errors and human contrivances. That means 
that we can work effectually in the cause of the king- 
dom which is not of this world only when we adhere 
strictly, as does the Lutheran Church, to the great 
King's orders and promises. It is His Kingdom, and 
saving souls is His work ; and to accomplish His sav- 
*. ing purpose we must not only do His bidding, but 
| abide strictly by the means through which He is 
pleased to execute His saving will. His Word must 
rule and do the work. A departure from that Word 
is not only so far forth disloyalty to the King, but a 
step towards defeating His purpose by substituting im- 
potent human wisdom and device for the Gospel, which 
is a power of God unto salvation. Whether the pro- 
fessed co-workers with God call themselves Luther- 
ans or not, is not essential in the matter ; but whether 
or not they continue in the Lord's Words and employ 
His means for the accomplishment of His ends, and 
thus are really co-workers with God, this is essential. 

So far as. churches teach false doctrine, departing 

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to that extent from the wisdom and way of the Lord, 
who alone can save and who saves alone in His ap- 
pointed way, so far they defeat the very end at which 
they profess to aim. Not the truth which they confess is; 
the obnoxious element in their separate organizations, 
nor the distinctive name other than Lutheran which; 
they assume. The truth unites, error divides. Our 
warfare is against their errors, by reason of which they 
have caused divisions and offences contrary to the 
Apostles' doctrine and fellowship. If, by reason of 
the truth which they have retained, souls by the mercy 
of God are still saved among them, that is something 
we can rejoice in and thank God for; but it cannot 
make good their deviation from the pure Gospel, which 
the Lutheran Church confesses, or raise their human 
opinions and schemes to equal power and authority 
with the divine Word, which is quick and powerful, 
and which alone is able to save our souls. Erring 
Churches deceive themselves when they imagine that 
any saving work which the grace of God effects among 
them is due to their distinctive character. If a soul 
is saved, so as by fire, in the Romish Church, it is not by 
Romanism, which does what it can to hinder the opera- 
tion of divine truth through the gospel still remaining in 

that corrupt organization. And so it is with all other 

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churches. To the degree in which the Reformed par- 
ties adopted human errors and maintained them 
against the divine truth which the Lutherans con- 
fessed at Augsburg, insisting upon them even to the 
extent of causing division, and organizing a separate 
church with a different confession, they are impotent 
for the purposes of our Lord in the establishment of 
His kingdom. 

And when now we of the Ohio Synod are roundly 
reproached as scandalously narrow, because of our 
alleged exclusive devotion to the Lutheran Church and 
our supposed disparagement of all others, even to the 
ignoring of the one Church of Christ, what shall we 
say? It is difficult to bear with patience the wrongs 
inflicted by those who, while they make special pro- 
fessions of Christian charity above all sincere Luther- 
ans, ought to know better, and in many cases prob- 
ably do know better. In my protracted controversies 
on this and kindred subjects I have endeavored to 
bear patiently and speak the truth in love, though I 
knew the very utterance of the truth would prove 
offensive. Can a Christian silently submit to wrong 
and do nothing to defend the Lord's cause in which 
he is called to engage? I had not so learned Christ, 

and there was war. But it is an astounding thing that 

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Christians should allow themselves to become so mud- 
dled and tangled in their natural antipathy to conten- 
tion for the faith that they maintain propositions 
which, in other matters, they would at once pronounce 
ridiculous. 

Is it so hard to see, that when men contend earnT 
estly in the Lutheran Church for the faith once deliv- 
ered to the saints, their contention avails, and is de- 
signed to avail, for the kingdom which is not of this 
world, for the Universal Church of Christ? Is it tof 
complex an affair for ordinary minds to compre- 
hend, that when we put forth all our strength 
to maintain and perpetuate the full truth of the 
gospel set forth in the Confession of the Lutheran 
Church, we are doing this in the service of Christ 
and of the whole congregation of believers in 
all lands and in all time? And is the thought too 
profound or too intricate for common people, that 
when, to preserve the purity of the faith, all opposing 
error is rejected, and it is the error found in other de- 
nominations that is attacked, not the points on which 
we are agreed, and which could never have led to a 
separation and to form a barrier between us? The 
case is as plain as that of a refusal to drink with peo- 
ple who persist in putting poison in their water. Our/ 

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warning is against the poison, not the water ; and yet 
against the poisoned water, and the party that serves 
it, even though it be admitted that some who drink it 
may escape the deadly effects of the poison. My calm 
review of my life suggests no regrets as regards my 
principles and consequent course of action in this 
respect. As regards other churches, whether of the 
Romanist or Greek or Reformed type, I was always 
ready to admit that, from their point of view, they 
had a case worthy of consideration when they con- 
tended that they are right and our glorious Confes- 
sion is wrong. That is a matter which our theologi- 
ans, always ready to give a reason for the hope that 
is in them, have discussed at great length and with 
great fulness ever since the days of the Reformation, 
and are always willing still to discuss with any sincere 
inquirer after the truth, who may have any doubts or 
difficulties about the Lutheran Confession. If any 
such person ask a hearing he is entitled to it, and 
never fails to get it. But ill-natured and ill-mannered 
assaults on the Christian character of Lutherans who, 
ever ready to teach and defend the truth which is 
precious to them, as the very truth of God, have a full 
assurance of faith and speak with assurance because 
they believe, have no claims upon the meek indul- 



*28 433 



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gence of those whom they wantonly wrong. And it 
is a different matter when bodies professing to be 
Lutherans and thus claiming to hold and contend for 
the same glorious heritage of the Reformation with 
us, assail our position and demand less exclusiveness 
and greater alleged liberality in the interest of fra- 
ternization with sects. If the General Synod or the 
General Council declared that they are not sure about 
the complete gospel truth witnessed before all the 
world in the great Reformatory Confession of Augs- 
burg, our attitude toward them would be different; 
as it is, they seem to be of one mind with us, while 
their unionistic predilections induce them to make 
concessions which, in their import and consequences, 
conflict with the fundamental claims of the Lutheran 
Church. 

The Ohio Synod worked and fought its way to 
a position in which, being in possession of the rich 
treasures of the gospel and a true child of the Refor- 
mation, it would yield nothing of her heritage. In 
that position I have shared her toils and troubles and 
wars and victories. That is her position now, and it 
is mine still. Neither menaces nor blandishments 
should lead us to make concessions to any sect or 

party that would deprive us of our jewels or depre- 

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date their eternal value. In things temporal, how- 
ever great may be their worth for the little while they 
endure, compromises may be made and portions may 
be sacrificed when a greater good is gained than has 
thus been lost; in matters of opinion a policy which 
seems to us the wiser and better may be yielded in 
deference to the judgment of others who cannot see 
things as we see them when peace and harmony can 
be secured by such deed of self-denying charity; but 
in matters of faith God's Word must stand as the only 
authority, and we can stand only by standing on it as 
the rock that remains firm when heaven and earth 
shall pass away. The truth of the gospel is not given 
us to barter away, but to keep for the benefit of our 
own souls and of all Christendom. No right is given 
to any man to make concessions in this regard, whether 
they be demanded under threats of disaster or en- 
treated by the pleadings of love. Let the disaster 
come, which fidelity to the gospel may occasion; they 
are blessings in disguise; let the alleged love which 
lures us away from the Lord be accursed ; it is Satanic, 
even if those employing it are well-meaning dupes, 
rather than deceivers. The history of the Church con- 
firms and illustrates the teachings of the Bible, that 

yielding little by little leads to yielding more and more, 

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until all is in danger; and the tempter is never satis- 
fied until all is lost. It seems but a small concession 
that we are asked to make when an article of our 
confession is represented as a stumbling block to many 
Christians which ought therefore in charity to be re- 
moved, but surrendering that article would only lead 
to the surrender of another on the same ground, and 
that is the beginning of the end ; the authority of the 
inspired Word of our Lord is gradually undermined. 
There is not an article in our creed that is not an 
offence to somebody; there is scarcely an article that 
is not a stumbling block to some who still profess to 
be Christians. It is impossible to find a place to stop, 
when the concessions once begin. And the reason is 
manifest ; the principle is wrong, and displaces a prin- 
ciple that is right. The one is human, the other is 
divine; the human opinion and sentiment is substi- 
tuted as a rule and guide for the Word of God and 
the faith that accepts it as absolute authority. 

There is nothing to prevent the Lutheran Church 
in this land from running the course of the New Eng- 
land Congregational churches now existing as an 
effete form under the Unitarian name, if once the 
false principle is admitted. The downward course 

could be regulated only by individual notions and 

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tastes. Nothing seems to my mind more conducive 
to Satan's malicious purposes than the argument, so 
much urged nowadays, that the intelligence of the 
world is turned against Christianity and that the 
Church must conciliate it and make concessions to it, 
if it desires to save itself from utter ruin. There is 
no plainer symptom of approaching death than this 
very desire to escape it by surrendering all that sus- 
tains life. And so the requirements of science and 
philosophy are met by stripping Christianity of all its 
supernatural power and glory, and setting out the 
pitiful cadaver as one of the great religions of the 
world. So far has this wretched betrayal of the 
Church into the hands of its enemies been carried, 
that it will soon be as much of a disgrace to claim, 
that the Christian is the only true religion and Christ 
is the only Saviour of the world lying in wickedness, 
as to claim that the Evangelical Lutheran is the one 
Church that confesses the Gospel in its purity and, 
holding fast the precious heritage of the Reformation, 
has nothing to surrender. As for me, I have endeav- 
ored to serve the Lord faithfully in a busy life de- 
voted to the interests of that Church and thus of all 
Christendom, and at the close of my career I stand 
by the grace of God where I stood ever since I knew 



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the Saviour. And my appeal to my brethren is still 
the same : "Be faithful to the Lord who bought you 
with His blood, and to the Church which abides by 
His Word through evil and through good report. 
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in 
the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of 
God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of 
the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, 
but against principalities, against powers, against the 
rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual 
wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you 
the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to with- 
stand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." 
Eph. 6, 10-13. 

I think that I may truthfully say that, on the 
whole, I am closing my career in the ministry as I 
began, just fifty-six years ago, with faith in Christ 
and in His Church, believing that the Saviour of the 
world has established a kingdom of believers on earth 
against which the gates of Hell shall not prevail, and 
that when the visible organization of that Church had 
corrupted its way under the Anti-Christian abomina- 
tions of popery, God, who never forsakes His people, 
restored a true visible Church through the great 

Lutheran Reformation. That is the Lutheran Church 

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with its pure Word and Sacrament and its noble 
Evangelical Confession, which all Christians should 
have embraced then, and all Christians should embrace 
now, that there might be no divisions among us in the 
visible company of confessing Christians as there are 
none in the one invisible body of believers, which is 
the body of Christ, the Lamb's Bride. In this true 
visible Church, the Evangelical Lutheran, I have lived 
and labored and suffered and rejoiced until now, when 
little strength is left to labor, but my faith and love 
and hope remain the same. 

The prospect seems less bright since the Ohio 
Synod has been deserted by its powerful ally of Mis- 
souri. Our dear Lutheran Church is suffering greatly 
by the strenuous effort to introduce into her pure faith 
the Calvinistic element that would corrupt it and dis- 
prove her claims. But our Ohio Synod has not ac- 
cepted the innovation, and our contention remains the 
same. Neither has the Lutheran Church accepted it, 
and in nothing have we shown the sincerity of our 
devotion to the Church of the Augsburg Confession 
more distinctly than in our separating from a body of 
men to whom we owe so much and who were so dear 
to us, rather than fellowship error and thus depart 

from a principle which we held in common and which 

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both regarded essential. But the defection of a pow- 
erful corporation does not change the truth for which 
we contended and still contend; and the final victory 
is not dependent upon the number of men who con- 
fess it, or upon men at all, but upon the mercy and 
power of God, who has guaranteed it by His gracious 
promises. And these promises we believe, and take 
courage. 

So far as I see, writing now on the eve of the 77th 
anniversary of my birthday, my life's work is done. 
Maybe our dear Lord may enable me to render some 
little service yet before He calls me home from this 
land of pilgrimage, but my thoughts are directed to 
the mansions above. He will provide for the cause 
in which He was pleased to use my life, and I have 
no fear in regard to its ultimate success. And I have 
no fears, poor sinner that I am, in regard to my eternal 
future; for I have a Mighty Saviour who has pre- 
pared a place for me, even for me, in His blissful 
mansions. Trusting in the merits of His blood that 
was shed for me, I have peace in believing. Thanks 
be to God for His unspeakable gift ; and "surely good- 
ness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my 
life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for- 

ever." 

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